Warped Image: The Lost Ones
by MorganRay
Summary: Hermione, Ginny, and Tonks loose themselves in a world where Tonks is a killer, Ginny an obnoxious princess, and Hermione is lost in a net of enemies she must call friends. What happens to the ones they love, and can they survive being the villians?
1. Wizard Weddings

Warped Image 

_Rowena Ravenclaw shakily scoped the glistening, sapphire stone into the wooden box, where it sat, lifeless and harmless. No, it wasn't harmless; she that knew perfectly well, which was why she was going to seal it away for possibly a millennium or two, if she was lucky._

_With a flick of her wand, she closed the box, not wanting to touch it herself. She then continued to perform a variety of curses and charms on the box, making it unable to open. Finally, she hid that the box had even been able to open._

_She held up her handiwork, deciding that it would do, as in she wanted the box to remain safely tucked away in Hogwarts, unable to be found, let alone opened. So, she stowed it away, behind books and other shimmering items that could detract interest in this ordinary box._

_"It must never be touched," Rowena whispered to herself as she stole a last glance at the shelf where she'd hidden the box. She'd found out what happened when she'd touched the stone, and it was an experience she wished no one else to repeat._

The Present 

At the Burrow

Night hung heavy and peacefully like a thick, comfortable quilt on the Burrow. Several huge tents had been erected in the yard, and they were still covered in dewy flowers and streamers that blew gently like leaves when stirred. The ground still had litter from the previous days scattered on it, along with things just put here and there.

For wizard weddings were huge affairs, involving just as much preparation as partying. Months before hand, everything had been ordered, and then, several days before the wedding, the families and close friends had shown up, trickling in to add to the growing chaos of getting ready for the festive day.

However, unlike normal weddings, where the guests came, saw the beautiful couple married in a church, ate, drank, and danced at the reception, and then left, leaving the couple to embark on their honeymoon, well, wizard weddings lasted longer. The family and friends that felt like it could stay around for nearly a week after the occasion, or if they left, pop back in to wish the bride and groom a happy marriage and have another drink.

Bill and Fleur's wedding had been no exception. An excess of people had camped out at the Weasly's house, which was quite full only the second night after the marriage and initial reception. The enormous Weasly family attended, taking up half of the seats at the service, along with Fleur's own family and friends, who, although not as expansive as the Weasly clan, did manage to make the biggest fuss before the wedding.

And then, you had the friends of the family and the friends of the friends. This included all current members of the Order, any of Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny's schoolmates, along with anyone else that Mrs. and Mr. Weasley decided they just had to invite, for one reason or another.

That night, after another day of merriment, Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley sat awake in the kitchen of the Burrow, which had been turned into the store room for most of the wedding gifts that were small enough to fit inside the house.

"Your hair really did look nice," Ginny said in a hushed voice as she pulled out the pins and undid several of the spells that had kept Hermione's thick, curly, tawny mane of hair tamed for a couple days.

"It was a pain," Hermione said as she took a sip of chamomile tea. Ginny also had her hair pulled up; however, it had been done Fleur's Aunt Antoinette, whom Ginny detested more than the bride herself.

"Yours was a pain? At least Auntie Horrible didn't tug your hair around saying things like 'Too long!' or 'What awful hair zee has!"

"Can't say I missed it," Hermione kept her voice down, letting out only a silent laugh. "I saw enough of bridezilla."

"She's not part of your family," Ginny grumbled, remembering, as the wedding crept closer, how Fleur went from unbearable egomaniac into spastic monster, throwing things around and screaming 'Awful! Zees has to go!'

"True," Hermione giggled as Ginny pulled out the last spell, and Hermione's hair returned to its normal, fluffy nature.

"Evening," both girls looked up as Tonks walked into the room. She was still dressed in the short, silky cream dress covered in glittering gold stars, which was held on her by two very thin straps. It was a very un-Tonks like dress that she'd worn to the wedding. She'd changed her hair to a vibrant Weasly red just for the occasion, and the dress really was the only thing that would match.

"I think you've been drinking," Ginny stated the obvious, but of course, they'd all had some champagne that Fleur's family brought from France. However, some people had definitely gone for harder liquor.

"Really?" Tonks said groggily as she stumbled over a package and knocked down an entire mountain of gifts. Ginny and Hermione stood up and cleared a path to the table, which was also cluttered with brightly wrapped presents.

"Shh, I don't want to wake anyone," Hermione muttered but knew most of the guests were tired or hammered, anyway.

"Here," Hermione muttered as she enchanted the tea with a little clarity charm. Tonks sipped it, and the drowsy look slowly seemed to fade. It never occurred to Hermione that now Tonks would be awake for a while, which meant the two very tired girls would need to stay up and keep her company.

"I wonder how long everyone will stay?" Tonks asked, bright and lively again, even in the wee hours of the morning.

"Mum and dad are excepting guests until school starts," Ginny said but meant only Harry, Hermione, and a few select others by this, of course, not the troupe that attended the wedding.

"So much fun. I haven't had a quality party in a long time," Tonks raised her voice a little loud, which made Hermione 'shh' her. "Really, everything is so depressing, I think the last time I've played a drinking game was when I was still in Auror training."

"Were you drinking with Fred and George?" Ginny gasped. Tonks nodded, a giddy little smirk on her face. The twins bought the best, hardest drinks they could find, gathered a crowd, and in no time, the reception had become a whole lot livelier before people started passing out and vomiting every minute.

"Really, I didn't think they'd bring it, with minors," Hermione chided no one in particular. Tonks laughed, propping her elbows on the table. However, there wasn't room, and another shaky present tower fell over.

"Some one had to have heard _that_," Hermione muttered as she made sure all but a couple presents were left on the table. They were a small set of antique wooden boxes that couldn't be damaged because they'd all been enchanted at one time, and they couldn't be moved by hand.

"No, looks like everyone really is asleep," Ginny commented after listening for even the faintest footfall.

"They make a cute couple," Tonks commented randomly as she stared absently at the set of oak boxes.

"Oh, please, I think I'm going to die. I just hope the children are like Bill," Ginny groaned. Hermione nodded, sympathizing heavily with Ginny, but Tonks just shrugged.

"I like her," Tonks said resolutely. She hadn't said anything negative about Fleur since after the attack on Hogwarts, where they'd all watched Fleur declare her love for Bill as she mopped up his bloody face. In fact, she'd gone out of her way to help Fleur organize the wedding, arriving at the same time as the very first family members.

"You're the reason I haven't killed her yet," Ginny said, a little regret in her voice.

"You're the only reason every woman in this house didn't put a silencing jinx on her," Hermione stated what she'd personally almost achieved several times. "I don't see how you stand her."

"I do. She's quite a nice person, although a bit of a perfectionist," Tonks contemplated without a hint of malevolence in her voice. Ginny and Hermione exchanged a weary look, deciding they weren't going to be able to harass Fleur in Tonks's presence.

"I've never been to a wedding like this," Hermione changed the subject for all their sakes. "There were definitely five hundred people or more here."

"Oh yes, my family, extended cousins and all, were at least three hundred, and counting everyone that showed up, invited and uninvited, I think about six hundred," Ginny said casually.

"Cheery," Tonks said with a broad smile. "Everyone was so festive."

"We owe it to Fred and George," Ginny said, trying to suppress a yawn, feeling more like she'd been a quaffle on a quidditch pitch the last couple of days.

"All in all, good," Hermione also tried to stifle a yawn. Tonks, now perky and awake, looked between the two girls.

"You're tired?" She asked, not believing that they'd worn out. "I just got awake!"

"Shh," Hermione chided Tonks half-heartedly. She rubbed her own sagging eyelids. "I thinks Ginny and I need to sleep, but I don't feel like moving to a bed."

"This table," Ginny let out a fat yawn, "will work."

With that, the two girls put their arms on the table and used them for pillows. Tonks sat up for a while, staring around at the presents. She'd always wanted to get married, and oh, if weddings brightened her up this much, she was going to get married tomorrow. There was that little problem of getting proposed too though. . .

However, she soon joined the girls, leaving her thoughts to tomorrow, and rested her head on the table, deciding she really would probably wake more people if she went back up stairs through the mass chaos of presents, people, and things randomly strewn across her path. Soon, she was snoring along with Ginny, and they bathed in the sham calm that cloaked the house.

"_Stupify!"_

Tonks bolted awake and quickly ducked, barely avoiding the spell aimed at her head. She quickly drew her own wand, pointing it over the table and shooting off a couple non-verbal spells, which stopped the first of the black cloaked figures.

"Death Eaters!" Ginny shrieked as she woke up. Hermione bolted upright, instantly grabbing her wand and also performing a few non-verbal jinxes to help Tonks. However shrouded in darkness they were, the three women could see the vague mob of black shadows standing just beyond the door.

"Duck!" Tonks screamed as she jumped up to battle the first couple trying to get into the door. Hermione waved her wand at the huge clumps of presents, throwing them in the Death Eaters' faces, which gave Tonks time to stun them.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Ginny shouted, disarming another dark figure trying to get in through a window.

"Under the table!" Tonks hollered as several spells shot at the ladies, but missed, exploding presents and ricocheting around the room. Upstairs, Hermione became away of thuds and explosions as people woke up. She heard a loud crash as someone flew out a window, landing amongst the tents.

"_Incarcerous!"_ Ginny shouted as she crept up near Tonks, who was crouching behind a mountain of gifts and several chairs. Hermione stayed back where she'd ducked, right behind Ginny.

"_Avada Kedavra!"_ The Death Eater blocking the door luckily miss aimed his curse, and it hit the boxes on the table. They promptly exploded in a spray of splinters. Hermione shrieked, frantically hoping that some people would get down to the besieged kitchen.

Tonks pointed her wand at the Death Eater, shooting him out through the doorway, causing him to knock over some of his fellows. Hermione jumped up, sealing the door before anyone else could get in the kitchen.

"_Crucio_!" Instantly, a window shattered as the curse shot across the room. Again, the three ladies were lucky, each hidden under the table or a mound of presents.

"GET DOWN!" Tonks yelled as loud as she could. Hermione clutched her wand, trying to keep it in her sweaty palm. Ginny crept forward, nearer to Tonks, to get a better aim at the door, which shook as the Death Eaters tried to force entry.

Hermione looked over, watching as a sparkling sapphire, which seemed to have a light of its own like a star, fall off the table. It landed near her empty hand, and for a prolonged moment, Hermione wondered at its beauty. It looked like the crystal blue sky and the deep, melancholy sea in one, shimmering stone. Hermione reached out, grabbing it in her empty hand, deciding she'd keep it before helping Ginny and Tonks with the door.

However, as she touched it, Hermione felt her vision fragment, as if in a thousand pieces, ripping her mind until all she saw was that overwhelming blue color. It felt as if a thousand, flesh-eating spiderswere crawlinginside her veins. Rapid pulses of electricity pounded her brain, and then, Hermione felt as if she was being yanked away from herself. She tried to scream for help, but found she couldn't as she felt herself moved, as if in a million parts through a misty barrier.

Then, the pain stopped, and Hermione realized she wasn't alone.

A/N: This is MorganRay. I'll post my disclaimer that I don't own anything in this story here. I'm perfectly happy to write fanfiction, although this is really a first attempt at a prolonged HP fic. I usually write anime, but I'd appriciate your comments, good, bad, ugly, or just critical in general, on this story. So you can e-mail me, or just review. If you see grammar mistakes, ect., i'd prefer it to be sent in an e-mail, though. Thanks, MorganRay.


	2. New Hair

(I don't own any of these characters. Once again, if I did, I'd say so, but I don't. J.K. Rowling owns them.)

Chapter Two: New Hair

_Ginny!_ Hermione tried to scream to the vague presence, lying beside her in the incredibly dense mist, that must be Ginny Weasley. She barely felt her there, but knew instinctively that someone lay beside her.

_Ginny!_ Hermione felt her mind racing, and she felt a thick, pounding in her skull as she struggled to try and shout to Ginny. My wand, Hermione thought, I'll call my wand. _Accio Wand_! Hermione thought forcefully. She tried again, almost a dozen times before realizing she might be completely helpless.

The Death Eaters got us, Hermione let the bleak thought pound into her mind. We might have died, too, and this is what death feels like. No, Hermione decided, Death Eaters had caught them. She lay there, unable to move, and too discouraged to try.

This is the end, Hermione thought bitterly. We went down fighting, but this is the end. Maybe this is what it feels like to start losing your mind. Maybe we're in a comma, yes, very possible that our bodies are there, but we're never going to wake again, Hermione thought as she quickly made theories in her mind.

_Let me out!_ Hermione mentally shouted, but to no avail. Then, she felt someone else, farther away, and for a moment, feared that a Death Eater had entered this place, too. No, Hermione realized as she focused on the slightly more distant figure; it was Tonks.

_Tonks! Help us!_ Hermione felt like she shouted insanely loud. Oh, did her head ache, though, it felt as if a sledgehammer were being driven into her skull. She wanted to rub her aching mind, but found she still couldn't move.

_No! NO!_ Hermione tried to jerk, mental frustration taking over. _Let me out! I don't want here!_ _They've got me! HELP ME!_

_Ginny! Tonks! Ginny! Tonks! HELP ME! THEY'VE GOT US! HELP ME! _Hermione frantically thought, the pain stabbing like a blunt knife into her brain, gouging her mind to the point where she should've gone unconscious.

_SOMEONE! HELP US! THEY'RE TORTURING US! _Hermione thought frantically, deciding they must be doing just that. _I'M GOING BLOODY INSANE! I JUST WANT OUT!_

POP! Hermione gasped air, as if she'd held her breath under water for five minutes. She panted, breathing the air in loud, shallow gasps, thankful that she could feel something again. Breathe, she thought, breathe, just inhale, exhale . . .

Hermione felt her heart stop racing, and she lay there until her breathing became normal again. Breathe, Hermione thought as she felt her body relax, and the terrible pulsing in her head ebbed away. You're alive, Hermione, you're alive, she reassured herself silently.

Hermione suddenly realized she might be able to move and open her eyes, but she hesitated, afraid to discover herself surrounded by Death Eaters. Maybe I was saved, Hermione tried to be hopeful. Yes, I'll wake up in St. Mungos, Ron and Harry sitting by my bed, Hermione convinced herself, and then, she tried to open her eyes. It felt like a heavy padlock that had just fallen off as she let her eyelids flutter open.

I'm at Hogwarts? Hermione tried to grasp what she saw. Yes, she was most definitely lying in the Gryffindor girls' dorms. She recognized the room where she'd spent so much time sleeping, waking, and living at Hogwarts. She rested on her right side, with all her thick blankets pulled up around her because the room was chilly, which meant it was in the middle of winter.

Winter? Hermione paused at this thought. Yes, it definitely was winter, she realized, peering out the barred window. Snow lay thickly on the ledge, and more fluttered silently past the windowpanes that nature had imprinted its icy designs on.

Hermione carefully surveyed the room from the warmth of her bed, feeling afraid to move. There were five other beds in the room, but Hermione didn't recognize any of the things around them. The girls she'd always roomed with, which included Lavender and Parvati, didn't arrange their things like this. All the trunks were different, too, Hermione noticed, as if other people lived in her familiar dorm room, but it was definitely the Gryffindor dorm, and this bed had always been hers.

Hermione lay there, examining the bed closest to hers, which had a thick, scarlet, fleece blanket. The bed had been made, and two fluffy, white pillows sat on top. The old, weather-beaten brown trunk was closed, but several books were scattered on the floor. Hermione had never seen the trunk or blanket before, although red wasn't an unusual color for decoration in Gryffindor.

I could move, Hermione thought. _Accio Wand!_ Hermione thought, concentrating hard enough to cause a dull throb in her head. She took a breath to scream, ready to fall back into the abyss like fog, but suddenly, she flexed her fingers, realizing her wand was in her hand.

"Ha," Hermione laughed humorlessly. She sat up, putting her feet over the side of the bed. She squeezed her wand tightly, glad not to be in the phantasmal haze, but safely in a real, solid Gryffindor tower. Hermione pushed herself off the bed, walking shakily across the room to the vivid, scarlet blanket.

"Oh!" Hermione shrieked as she caught sight of herself in a long, thin mirror. She staggered backwards, falling across the floor. The mirror reflected the image of an entire human body, and Hermione gaped at what she saw.

"My hair," she muttered, touching a lock of thick, chestnut brunette hair. Her hair slid through her fingers, and Hermione silently marveled at the silky texture. She stood up, looking at her figure, deciding she still looked like Hermione, but only better than usual.

"I'm actually pretty," Hermione gaped as she walked back and forth in front of the mirror, examining her thin nose, soft, hazel eyes, and pouting rose lips. Yes, she had better skin, too, Hermione realized triumphantly.

Her triumph lasted only several moments before she remembered that she shouldn't be here. Suddenly, her new appearance disturbed her. She backed away from the glistening mirror and gazed madly around, expecting a Death Eater to pop out of a trunk.

However, when nothing happened, Hermione surrendered to the fact that maybe, just maybe she hadn't been captured. What happened, then? Hermione wondered as she got dressed, realizing the reason no one was there might be because they'd gone down to breakfast.

I slept in, Hermione thought ruefully as she slid into a pair of jeans and a thick, wool, cream sweater. She grabbed one of the black robes that had been freshly laundered and slid on a pair of black boots with a low, thick heel before thundering down the stone steps.

She reached the common room, but stopped as she crossed the threshold from the dorm steps into the brightly lit, comfortable room. The red and gold curtains and tapestries hung upon the walls, illuminated by the mid-morning winter sunlight, and the study tables with their chairs sat unused. The fire blazed, inviting the cold and tired to warm themselves by its flames. The plush armchairs sat around the room in little clumps, but most of them circled around the fireplace.

Hermione was so busy observing the common room, making sure everything was still intact that she didn't hear the person tread quietly down from the boys' dorms.

However, she spotted the tall boy with healthy, dark bronze skill a second too late. She opened her mouth to scream, but the shriek for help died in her throat. The boy, smiling amiably from ear to ear, briskly walked over to her in a few precious seconds before she was locked in his embrace, pulled forward against her will.

"Mione!" Blaise Zabini exclaimed as he locked her eyes and tilted her head back. Hermione felt frozen in a nightmare as he pressed his lips against hers, giving her a sensual thirty-second kiss.

---------

The light blinded Tonks for a moment, and she thought she'd been cursed. _No!_ She struggled to think, trying to jerk her body and fight. However, she couldn't move, and she heard the chaos swirl around her as she fell, as if in slow motion, onto the wooden floor.

_Ginny! Hermione! _Tonks's mind reeled as she looked over at Ginny, face down under the table, and Hermione, sprawled on her side. The two girls lay lifelessly beside her, and she felt guilt rush into her mind, knowing she'd gotten them killed.

"Tonks!" Amidst the rushing noise of the battle and the pulsing in her head, Tonks heard someone should her name. She couldn't place the voice because of the deep, throbbing, heartbeat like noise that filled her skull. "She's down!"

She didn't feel herself being moved, but only saw the scenery change as she was flipped onto her back, now able to look straight up into several concerned faces. Oh, but her head hurt, and she felt strangely detached from the world, only able to see and hear, but with the beating pulse in her mind, that was even difficult.

"Ginny!" She heard another scream. She saw the world move again, and became vaguely aware her head lay over someone's shoulder. "Hermione!" Another voice yelled as they found the other girl.

_Oh please, I'm not dead, don't let them be dead,_ Tonks pleaded silently, fighting the pain that slowly confused the world around her. A pair of extremely sharp, painful claws ripped at her mind, tearing apart the last of her senses. _I'm being torn away,_ Tonks realized hopelessly. _No!_

She struggled wordlessly, vaguely realizing the floor began to move. She couldn't hear anything, the voices were too distorted, and she found it increasingly painful to focus on anything she could see. The harder Tonks tried to concentrate, the more muffled her mind became as the claws scraped her brainaway.

_No! Help me! _Tonks shouted silently, as all the noise became mute, and slowly, everything that rushed past her eyes grew dark, outlined in misty shadows. Soon, the night engulfed her, rocking her into its depths.

_No! No! I'm all right! Wake me up! Wake me up!_ Tonks shrieked in frustration, but no one could hear her. She attempted to shake herself free, but she felt bound, just so detached from herself she couldn't move. Her mind felt like a piece of led, held down and heavy, but aching in horrible pain.

_Ginny! Hermione! Hang on! _Tonks tried to cry out again to the two girls. She felt them near her, and she wanted to help them. God, they couldn't be dead, she begged silently. _Help us! Do something! WE'RE TRAPPED!_

No one could hear her, though, and Tonks felt like she was being smothered with her nose and mouth clamped firmly shut and covered. Her mind panicked, and she wondered how long she could endure this before she suffocated.

_ANYONE! WE'RE TRAPPED!_ Tonks felt a jab of pain so intense she thought she'd pass out, but then, the pain peeked, and she took a breath. She breathed deeply, feeling her heart racing in her chest. The gnawing of the claws disappeared, along with the searing ache in her skull.

Now, her body lay still, and Tonks wondered if she could even more it. She opened her eyes, gazing up at the dirty, cobweb covered, ceiling. The roof slopped down, and the rotted rafters looked as if they could barely hold up the roof. Where am I? Tonks wondered as she wiggled her toes and fingers, testing out her movement.

She sat up cautiously, propping up her unsteady body with her arms. She stared around the cramped, dingy room. Bookshelves littered the walls, and some were placed randomly in the middle of the room because there was no more room against the wall. Nothing colorful or cheery decorated the walls, only vague shapes on shelves and things piled on trunks and boxes.

This looks like a place where you'd find Death Eaters, Tonks thought, gazing around the room, whose only source of light came from a grungy window over Tonks's bed. Then, a shiver raced up Tonks's spine as she realized Death Eaters _could_ have brought her here.

She waited tentatively, closing her hand around her wand, as if waiting for someone to appear from the gloom. However, after waiting what might have been several minutes, several hours, or an eternity, Tonks slid her legs over the bed, deciding she was very much alone up here.

She brushed her hair out of her face, but stopped, gently holding up a lock of ebony hair in the waning light. I didn't change my appearance, Tonks recalled the last moments she could remember. No, and I definitely can't change my appearance while I'm unconscious, she suddenly felt alarmed as she searched for a mirror.

She found it easily, at the foot of the old, dilapidated bed. It took up the height of the entire wall and was four times her width. The mirror glistened unnaturally in the gloomy room, and Tonks gazed stupidly at her reflection.

Her face had changed from heart shaped and full of color to long and quite pale. Her eyes were a vivid emerald green, and the shiny, smooth raven colored hair she had went down to her butt. However, her outfit shocked her the most. She wore a black bustier with a very short, black leather skirt that showed long, porcelain legs, accented by a pair of black stilettos. All in all, it was a very un-Tonks like outfit.

"Oh, gods," Tonks muttered. I must have been captured and put under the Imperius curse to wear this, she thought and fought the urge to retch. I look like a whore! Tonks turned away from the mirror, deciding she definitely wanted something else to wear.

However, when Tonks found the wardrobes, they were full of wizarding cloaks and robes, ornate and fancy outfits, and much of the same as what she'd woken up wearing. She found two pant suits, and decided to wear the deep colored violet one with a very revealing black top underneath, but she kept the suit jacket buttoned, not liking how much of her body this comparatively modest outfit revealed.

She put on a more comfortable pair of shoes, deciding who ever brought her hear might have already gotten a laugh or more out of her. Her stomach churned, but she fought the urge to hurl, realizing she could've been taken advantage of while out. She pulled a thick, warm black cloak over her shoulders to keep out the drafty chill in the room.

You will walk out of this room, Tonks told herself resolutely as she approached the door. No one will frighten you, Tonks braced herself as she opened the door. She walked down a narrow, rickety flight of stairs before she reached another gloomy landing, with three doors leading off it. Nothing seemed to be stirring on this floor, so she walked down another two flights of stairs before entering a sitting room, illuminated faintly by a weak fire, smoldering in the hearth.

So, I was in the attic, Tonks realized as she approached another flight of stone steps, leading down into the basement. Tonks walked cautiously down them, stopping before a closed door. She drew her wand and pressed her ear against the rough, oak door.

" . . .with you, but you almost failed," a harsh, hoarse voice spoke.

"We didn't fail, that's the point," a deep, gruff male answered the first speaker. Tonks's jaw dropped, reconizing the second voice. No, no, no . . .Tonks thought desperately. It can't be . . .

"You got lucky," the first speaker, who Tonks couldn't tell if it was male or female, spoke again.

"We killed Avery, that's the point," the second person said confidently. Yes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Tonks recognized Sirius Black's voice.

"You still got lucky," the first voice cackled. "I must say, she is pleased, though."

Tonks almost opened the door, but years of Auror training made her slightly more cautious. They'd just talked about a death, so she hesitated and listened for Sirius to speak again.

"Nymphadora and I never mess up. Those blood traitor cousins and their cronies couldn't stop me even if we fought them without wands," Sirius boasted. Tonks felt her mind real and almost dropped her wand.

What was going on? She thought helplessly.

A/N: You're just going to have to wait to see what Ginny is up to . . . Thank you for everyone who has reviewed. I like how this is going so far, so thanks a bunch. Blaise Zabini is my favorite Slytherin, and Hermione is my favorite character, so I liked this warped pairing. . . . I personally went into Sirius denial, so I brought him back in this story because I wanted to. So tell me your thoughts. . . .Thanks, MorganRay.


	3. The Green and Silver Lady

Chapter Three: The Green and Silver Lady

(Once again, I don't own any of these characters. This third disclaimer says J.K. Rowling does.)

_It's so dark,_ was Ginny Weasley's first thought as a scalding flash of light seemed to burn her away from herself. She saw, for a few moments, the battle continue, but then, she fell away.

_Oi! Hermione! I can't move! Hermione! Do something!_ Ginny kept trying to shout to Hermione, who was very close to her. If only I could just tell her to stop lying there, Ginny thought, her frustration building in her gut. Her head still felt like she'd fallen from her broom. Ginny just wanted to wake Hermione and massage her own throbbing temples.

_Hermione! Something is wrong! HERMIONE!_ Ginny felt irritated that Hermione wasn't responding. She was in incredible pain, and all Hermione could do was lie there?

_Tonks! Tonks! NYMPHADORA TONKS WAKE UP!_ Ginny tried hollering at the other witch. However, neither of them seemed able to move or wake. Maybe they think I'm asleep, too, Ginny mused. Yes, that's it, none of us can do anything, and oh! My head hurts! Ginny thought as the pain increased, stabbing harder at her thoughts.

_Will this just end? PLEASE!_ Ginny screamed as a particularly fierce wave of pain made her nauseous. Then, with a start, Ginny sat bolt upright.

The world swam in front of her eyes, and her stomach rolled inside of her. She swooned, collapsing back in her bed until the world stopped spinning. I over exerted myself, Ginny reassured herself as she lay still and tried to make the floor and ceiling stop moving in circles that were opposite each other.

What a horrible experience, Ginny thought as she let her body calm down. I wonder what happened. We woke up to an attack; Ginny began recalling everything she could remember. Then, Tonks started yelling, and Death Eaters came in the house, and I ducked, and things exploded, and then, darkness, Ginny completed the events in her mind. They seemed fuzzy, as if lived by someone else, almost, not Ginny Weasley.

Ginny propped herself up on her arms after she assured herself she wasn't going to chuck up her food. She gazed around the room, her heart leaping up in her throat. I don't know where I am, Ginny realized and gazed frantically around at the four other beds in her room. Sunlight streamed in through a skylight, which was covered with snow. Ginny blinked, pulling the plush, thick black and green blankets closer to her.

"Bloody hell, I was kidnapped," Ginny whispered. She slowly took in all the beautifully carved trunks and ornate clothes that lay strewn around the room. Who would've taken me here? Ginny tried to reason out a situation as she stood up, deciding she wanted out. Then, she looked back at her own bed, noticing the beautifully embroidered green blanket. She gingerly fingered the silver snake, and once again, her stomach knotted and twisted inside of her.

"I'm . . . I'm in Slytherin?" Ginny asked the empty room, expecting an answer. Yes, that's exactly where I am, Ginny realized. The girls' dorms, in the dungeons, in Slytherin, Ginny concluded.

"What a joke," Ginny laughed hysterically, collapsing on the floor, still clutching the blanket. Fred and George will get a kick out of this, Ginny thought as her side began to hurt because of her giggling fit.

Then, Ginny thought of being kidnapped, which made her laughter redouble itself. Who would kidnap her and bring her to Hogwarts? No Death Eater would do that, Ginny reassured herself, but then, her raucous laughing died out.

"I _am_ at Hogwarts," Ginny said quietly, wiping a tear out of her eye. Ginny sat on the chilly stones, trying to figure out why she'd be at Hogwarts, but in the Slytherin dorms. Nothing came to her mind, and soon, the damp stones began to give her a chill, so she stood up.

"I should get dressed," Ginny reassured herself as she looked down at her pajamas. She looked around for her things, but didn't see anything she recognized. She decided, then, to try the gorgeous trunk at the foot of the bed she'd woke up in. She opened the heavy, cherry lid, overlaid in black leather, which had beautiful filigree and an ornate looking crest embroidered on it.

"This thing looks worth more than my entire wardrobe," Ginny whispered as she pulled out a black, silk evening gown with diamonds sown all over it. She touched the straps, which were composed completely of emeralds. The dress shimmered in the faint light, but Ginny laid it back in the trunk, deciding she wanted something more casual. However, this trunk seemed full of more gorgeous outfits that didn't fit Ginny's taste.

"I guess this'll have to do," Ginny said as she resigned herself to wearing a very finally knit, but comfortable, emerald green sweater. She pulled it on, slightly unnerved with how low the cut was. Then, Ginny grabbed an expensive, finely knit black skirt. She pulled it on, and then, put on a pair of skin colored pantyhose. Then, she put on a pair of black, knee high socks, which appeared unworn, before slipping on real dragon skin boats that went up to her knees.

"Who ever spent this much on these clothes has way too much money," Ginny muttered to herself as she walked to the dressing mirror and combed out her long, shimmering ginger hair. She looked at herself, deciding who ever brought her here had a sense of humor to leave her all these gaudy, expensive clothes.

Time to see the dungeons, Ginny thought brightly, trying to perk up her mood. She realized she'd never been in the Slytherin common room, and Ginny became curious, deciding she really did want to see it. She looked at the door to the girls' dorm room that she'd just closed, jumping slightly as she read Sixth Year Slytherin.

"It's winter in my sixth year," Ginny told herself, trying to make the churning in her stomach stop. "You're going to be fine, Ginny, you're at Hogwarts, just not in Gryffindor."

With that last thought, Ginny bounded down the stairs and stepped on the plush, ornate, green, black, and silver rung that spanned the entire length of the floor. She was shocked at how warm it was in the dungeon common room, but then she noticed the black marble fireplace where a roaring fire burned.

She walked farther into the common room, which was illuminated by tall, green candles that smelled of fresh pine and by skylights, which let in white shafts of light. The tapestries, when caught by the white sunlight, shimmered a brilliant emerald and silver, but by the fire, the silver in the tapestries seemed to turn to blood red.

"Ginny!" Ginny's mind reeled as she realized Lavender Brown had called her over to a group of plush, black, leather arm chairs. "Where have you been? You know, you missed breakfast."

"Yes," Ginny replied as she made her feet shuffle over to the group of girls sitting around a table. She found it slightly difficult to shuffle in the black boots, though. "I'm a little hungry."

"I'll get some food from our room," Pansy Parkinson offered, hastily rushing up to the dorms. What are Lavender and Parvati doing in Slytherin, too? Ginny wondered, looking at the two remaining girls that sat with her.

"Is that new?" Parvati asked Ginny as she reached out and fingered the fine, black skirt. "It's fabulous!"

"You mean, this? Have you seen me wear it before?" Ginny asked the girls. Lavender shot Parvati a quick, disdainful look, however. Parvati gave a sheepish, halfhearted smile.

"Of course it's new, everything you have is," Parvati apologized to a dumb struck Ginny. They worship me, Ginny realized but found the idea dumbfounding. Wow, they really think I'm something, don't they? Ginny tried to figure it out while trying to keep her aura calm and collected.

"Chocolate? Toffee?" Pansy said enthusiastically and stuffed the boxes under Ginny's face. Lavender sniffed disdainfully.

"You know she hates peanut butter truffles and toffee makes me sick!" Lavender exclaimed, shoving the boxes at Pansy. "Go get some of my mint truffles. They're the best made, not some cheep junk food."

"Thank you," Ginny felt slightly grateful to this very pushy Lavender Brown for getting her food that wouldn't be shoved in her face. This is the craziest joke yet, Ginny decided, letting a smile slip over her face. I think I must be in a comma, this has to be made up, Ginny thought wryly, but then remembered her bouts of sickness up in the dorm room. No, this was no ordinary dream.

"Are you feeling well, dear?" Lavender asked Ginny, who shifted uncomfortably in her chair at the thought of this scenario being genuine.

"I'm a little light headed, I think," Ginny said breathlessly. Lavender frowned, and a quick, disdainful scowl crossed her face.

"Probably a stupid side affect from that jinx Malfoy shot at you yesterday," Lavender said bitterly. Ginny leaned forward, suddenly interested to hear about where Malfoy was in Hogwarts. "I really wish those filthy little Gryffindor children would stop pretending they're so special."

"I don't understand why they think they're so great, anyway," Ginny said, trying to feign a snobbish air. Parvati nodded vigorously, but then, Pansy showed up with a huge box of unopened mint truffles.

"Here, Ginny," she said politely and handed them to her. Ginny opened the box, feeling like she might be eating food that cost as much as a week's worth of groceries for the Weasleys. She popped a couple in, letting them melt in her mouth.

"Feel better?" Lavender asked. Ginny nodded. Lavender, however, picked up the gossiping about all the people that Ginny apparently was supposed to hate. "I can't stand that obnoxious little twit, Pettigrew, either. She thinks she's all so special just because she can sit on a broom."

Ginny sat still, frozen in shock for several moments. Pettigrew? Did she hear that one right? She? She, Pettigrew is a she? Ginny tried to swallow that confusing lump of information.

"I can't believe Malfoy had enough nerve to jinx you!" Parvati said as she shook her head remorsefully. Ginny nodded dumbly, trying to comprehend what exactly Lavender said. Pettigrew? She asked herself again. She?

"Well . . . Malfoy and his friends, they'll get it," Ginny replied halfheartedly as she realized the other girls were waiting for her response. Parvati and Pansy nodded enthusiastically, but Lavender just groaned.

"Oh, don't start with his friends! Malfoy, Pettigrew, Trelawney, and Zabini! That's all I ever hear about! If one of them isn't winning something or saving something, nothing else matters!" Lavender spat. Ginny cleared her mind with the thoughts of how confused she was, deciding to absorb as much information as possible. "Yesterday, in Transfigurations, Zabini was his usual show-off self. Doesn't help that over-bearing, I'm-too-good-for-my-training-pants Longbottom was there, either."

"Lavender, you're brilliant!" Pansy flattered Lavender immediately, who calmed down slightly. Ginny nodded her approval, trying to grip what Lavender had just said. Neville is here, too, she told herself reassuringly. Somehow, thinking of Neville made her feel better.

"Where's Ron?" Ginny blurted out. However, the three girls didn't seem fazed by the question.

"Coming down from breakfast, I suppose," Parvati said off-handedly. Ginny nodded slowly, but then, it dawned on her that Ron was in Slytherin, too. The joke crashed around Ginny. This isn't funny any more, Ginny thought. This isn't even interesting; I just want out, Ginny thought desperately as she looked around the room, as if expecting to see a person waving her back to the Burrow.

"I think he got her good," Parvati squeaked. Ginny realized all the girls looked at her as if she had a horn growing out of her forehead. "Ginny, dear, maybe you should sleep some more."

"No, no, I don't know," Ginny whispered, unsure of what to do. Pettigrew? Malfoy? Ron? The names flashed through her confused mind, whirling in a strange, sickening circle.

"Ginny, you look like you swallowed a couple Flobberworms," Ginny turned around and gazed up at Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. Crabbe had spoken to her, and Ginny gave him a faint smile.

"It's Malfoy," Lavender rallied to Ginny's apparent cause. The four boys exchanged angry looks. Goyle scowled, gazing around as if Malfoy must just Apparate out of thin air so he could jinx him.

"Don't worry, Ginny," Dean patted her shoulder. "It's about time that half-blood got lucky."

"What's so interesting?" Ron asked, walking down the stairs into the room. The entire group stopped chatting to look up at him. Ginny stared at her older brother, recognizing the bright ginger hair and lanky body. However, the cold, sneering look on Ron's face was unfamiliar to her. She also realized, like her, his clothes appeared expensive and well made.

"You might try and hex Malfoy," Dean suggested off-handedly. "He messed your sister up a bit."

"That's funny," Ron chuckled, not believing Dean. However, he walked over to Ginny and got a better look at her anyway. She stared back into Ron's calculating emerald eyes that were so much like her own.

"Blimey," Ron muttered, his voice seething. "I think he really did do something to you. You haven't hexed him back yet?"

"No," Ginny replied in a whisper. Ron scowled, looking up at the stairs leading back towards the castle. Ginny swallowed the lump in her throat, feeling slightly afraid for herself. She'd never seen Ron, her goofy, comical brother look threatening before.

"Well, I have homework, so maybe some fun later, eh?" Ron said as he strode up towards the dorms. Ginny sat there, staring off into space. Her brain felt like a zit ready to explode. It ached, incredibly painful beneath her skull, pounding through the strange information again, repeating it several times as if trying to process the incredible mound of jumbled information.

"Anything we can do for you?" Pansy asked hopefully. Ginny realized the rest of them were still gathered around her. She stared around, nodding slightly.

"I'll do your homework," Lavender volunteered. She enthusiastically walked up to the dorms, followed by Crabbe, Dean, and Seamus who also wanted to help.

"Um, maybe something hot to drink," Ginny asked quietly. Pansy nodded, rushing off to find something again. Parvati got up, following her in a swirl of robes.

"I know what I can do," Goyle said as he hoisted Ginny out of her chair. Ginny didn't have the energy left to struggle. The terrible waking coupled with the confused moments in the common room robbed her of any kind of strength to fight.

She stood there helplessly as Goyle gave her a full-frontal snog.

A/N: Thanks for all the possitive reviews on the previous chapters. Please send a review. I'd really like to know if I mess up anything like names, spells, ect., or if i get a reference wrong some how.

Shining Star: Thanks for the compliment to my writing style. :) Boat away . . .

MG: Thanks for your encouraging reviews. I'd appriciate it if you'd leave an e-mail and/or penname. I just like to know who is reading, so I get a better idea who the person is (profile page) and what else they've read, ect.

Next chapter: Nymphadora (This would be where the normal world is in for a nasty little shock, as well as Tonks, who finds out that her wardrobe is the least of her worries.)

Thanks bunches, MorganRay.


	4. Nymphadora

Chapter Four: Nymphadora

(Disclaimer: Don't own any of these characters, except Igor, who could feasibly be my own creation. The rest belong to J.K. Rowling.)

The harsh, white lights illuminated the pale face of Tonks. She still wore the dress she'd worn to the wedding, but her face appeared pale and pasty. The perfectly white sheets and sterile hospital bed seemed an unfitting place for the witch with flaming red hair.

Beside the bed sat a thin, beautiful woman who could've been mistaken for a veela. In her wedding gown, which sparkled with diamonds sown into the collar and skirt, Fleur Weasley appeared like a vision of an angel. She seemed woefully out of place in the immaculate hospital room with its glossy floor and walls.

She was so brave, Fleur thought as she looked down at the girl. They'd run downstairs, where the main battle had taken place. The Death Eaters tried to sneak into the kitchen but found it occupied by Tonks, Hermione, and Ginny. Apparently, the Auror fought them off, and when they'd arrived, she lay unconscious on the floor beside the two young witches. They'd taken all three of them, along with at least two dozen other guest that had been injured, to St. Mungos.

She is like an older sister, except one that is a bit strange and can change appearance, Fleur thought. The blond patted Tonks's hand, having no malice in her heart for the witch. She quite liked her helping at her wedding and seeing her crumpled on the kitchen floor brought her true sisterly affections for Tonks to light. Mostly, from women she'd encountered spite and anger over her superior brains and beauty, but Tonks seemed to not have eyes for Fleur's faults and had become something of a confident, something she'd never had before.

"Love," Fleur turned around as her newly wed husband, Bill, spoke to her. He still wore his white tux, now speckled with blood and a mash of substances during the fight and its aftermath. "Mum said we should go. She chased me out of Ginny's room. She's begging me to get some rest, but I don't think I want to leave, but you can."

"What makes you theenk I would want to do zat?" Fleur defiantly told her husband. Bill smirked as he gazed at the slumbering witch. He found it odd that the two of them would become friends, but as it appeared in the case of Fleur and Tonks, opposites attract.

"They said she's actually going to be okay," Bill reassured Fleur. "Hermione got the brunt of the attack. She was almost dead when they brought her in, and Ginny suffered some injuries when the table collapsed on top of her, but Tonks, well, they said she appears okay."

"Do they know what happened?" Fleur asked, meeting her husband's brown eyes. Bill frowned slightly and shook his head. "They couldn't identify a specific curse. They think maybe an after affect from something ricocheting. It's anyone's guess, Love."

Bill took a seat beside his bride and held her thin, hands that could've belonged to a porcelain doll. He ran his fingers over the twenty-four karat gold wedding band that he'd slipped on her finger almost two days ago. The wedding bliss seemed like a distant memory, now obscured by the horrific and sudden Death Eater attack.

"Who else?" Fleur asked after several minutes passed in silence, staring at the unconscious Tonks.

"Ginny, Hermione, Shacklebolt, Vance, Jones, Moody, to name a few," Bill told Fleur. "Fred and George got banged up a little, but not seriously enough to be admitted. There were others, of course, guests, at least a dozen members of our family."

"My family is lucky," Fleur's voice held a note of quiet sadness in it. She'd woken up, panic stricken, and she'd watched one of Bill's cousins get shot out of a window. She'd panicked and searched madly for Gabrielle, only to find her huddled beside several of the students from Hogwarts who'd barricaded themselves inside a room.

"Love, get some rest," Bill coed to Fleur, stroking her face. She smiled and gave him a long, sensual kiss. She ran her hand through his hair and two exchanged a few minutes of lip locking in peace before a Healer strode in to check Tonks's condition.

"She's healing quite well," the healer checked her over quickly. He looked young, maybe an intern, and St. Mungos never settled down, especially now that He had returned. They'd been busier than ever, and this new batch of injured was just the same, if not in better shape, than most.

"How is Ginny Weasley?" Bill hastily asked the healer. He spun around on his heal, about to leave the room, but stopped when he heard Bill's question. He frowned slightly and gave a shrug before turning promptly on his heal again and striding out of the room.

"Go see," Fleur coaxed her husband to stand up. "I'll get someone else to watch 'er with me. See your sister."

"If you insist, I don't want to . . ." but Fleur silenced Bill's protests with a kiss. He smiled gently at his beautiful wife before walking out into the hallway. Fleur remained in her chair, which looked woefully plain next to her magnificent, sparkling dress fit for a princess.

She sat alone and in silence once more, as if waiting for someone to waltz into the room and remedy the situation. Fleur rested her fair face on her hands, propping herself up, despite her weariness. The weariness in her head wouldn't let her rest, and watching the sleeping woman helped her feel like she was important or doing something in a fashion.

"Madam, I'm going to ready Miss Tonks for bed," a polite nurse said soothingly to Fleur. The blond nodded, obligingly standing to walk to the other side of the room as the nurse pulled a curtain around Tonks's bed.

"Zee is being ready for bed," Fleur told the man to entered the room. Of all the people who'd come and gone, Remus Lupin had sat their the longest with her before leaving for about half and hour. Fleur hadn't been surprised he'd sat there so long, after all, Fleur knew they were lovers.

The nurse pulled back the curtain, and the pair advanced towards the bed. The nurse gave both of them both a quick look over, deciding that she'd never seen a more contradicting pair. Fleur looked like a vision of a goddess in her sparkling jewels and gown, while Remus looked painfully worn in his faded, gray suit. In age, there wasn't much similarity between the youthful vixen and the aged ex-professor who looked like he'd see several decades more of hardships than he'd actually lived. However, the sleeping lady in the bed was the one thread they shared in common.

Silence descended on the room once more, for both were too weary to feel like holding a conversation. Fleur leaned forward, resting her head on her elbows on her knees and her head on her hands. Her eyelids drooped over her baby blue eyes, as she drifted off into a half-awake, half-asleep state.

However, when Fleur closed her eyes for that one moment all day, she missed Nymphadora's body shift slightly in the bed. Her eyelids fluttered, and indeed, Nymphadora began to regain consciousness.

-------

I feel like shit, Nymphadora thought groggily as she moved. That mission scraped me up, but why do I feel like this? Nymphadora thought as she shifted slightly, seeing if she was able to move. She squirmed slightly, wiggling her toes and tensing and relaxing her muscles.

"Zee is awake!" Nymphadora's eyes shot open as a female voice screeched. She gasped as she looked up at the faces of two people she didn't recognize. They both looked concerned and weary, but Nymphadora really didn't care how they felt as she stared dumbly around the immaculate room.

"Where . . ." Nymphadora whispered as she studied the plaid nightgown she now wore. She fingered the fresh, crisp linen sheets, gazing intently at them, trying to piece how she'd gotten from their head quarters to this incredibly clean room, surrounded by people she'd never known.

"Zee is okay!" The girl wearing a very gaudy wedding dress squawked again as she went to hug Nymphadora. Nymphadora backed away, not in the mood to be embraced by strangers.

"Don't," she whispered hoarsely, but she found her voice didn't hold the threatening tone she desired. She swallowed the burning lump in her throat, trying to calm her fraying nerves. God, Nymphadora, you're never scared, she chided herself sternly.

"Zee is okay! I'll tell Bill!" The girl recovered from the moment when she'd tried to embrace Nymphadora. She stood up and strode off through two gray doors.

Bill? Nymphadora recognized a name she knew. Bill Weasley is here? Nymphadora hoped, but the very thought quieted her churning stomach, knowing an ally could assist her. She stood up, but almost sat back down because her legs wobbled like she'd had a Jelly Legs Jinx put on her.

"You should sit down," the haggard looking man spoke to her for the first time. Nymphadora didn't listen, but steadied herself. You fear nothing, she told herself, steeling her body to walk. "Tonks, we brought you to St. Mungos for a reason."

"What?" Nymphadora gasped and spun around, gazing furiously at the man. St. Mungos! No! They didn't bring me here! They're going to bloody send me to Azkaban! Nymphadora thought lividly. She looked around wildly for Sirius, and knew, instantly, that she'd been compromised and arrested somehow.

"Tonks!" The man screamed as she found the strength to storm into the hallway. _Accio Wand_! Nymphadora thought, her mind boiling in utter anger. I fear nothing, she reminded herself. I fear nothing, I fear nothing, she thought forcefully as she confronted the three people coming towards her.

"You need to lay down," Bill Weasley told her as he rushed towards her with Charlie and the girl at his heels. Nymphadora stared stupidly at the two men, waltzing down the hall of a bloody hospital! Her mind pumped, racing in panic, trying to contrive how to escape before they caught her.

"You were hurt. You need to rest," the man from the hospital room told her, his voice full of concern that only made Nymphadora sick. She scowled, deciding she had to escape before this mob of adversaries encircled her.

_STUPEFY_! Nymphadora's rage overflowed as she shot out a powerful, non-verbal spell at the four of them. She jumped the body of the girl, racing down the hallway. Her heart hammered in her chest, her body ached, but she kept dashing at top speed down the hospital halls in her barefoot.

Disguise, Nymphadora, before they find you! she calmed down her mind and began to think rationally. She saw a nurse walking towards her, and without a second thought, grabbed the woman and pulled her into a storage closet. She pressed her want to the woman's neck and whispered venomously, "_Stupefy_."

Immediately, Nymphadora stripped the woman of her clothes, and then, she studied her figure for a few moments before closing her eyes. In her mind's eye, Nymphadora meditated on the figure of the woman, trying to pin down as many features as she could in a pinch. Feeling satisfied, Nymphadora snapped her eyes open and dressed quickly in the nurse's frocks.

She grabbed some supplies, and then, casually, and with a perky look on the nurse's cheery features, exited the broom closet. She ambled down the hallway, searching for an exit. No one will suspect you now, relax, Nymphadora calmed herself down quickly, but clutched her wand tightly in a sweaty palm.

"Tonks! Tonks!" She willed herself not to turn around as two boys rushed down the hallway, screaming that name. "Did you see a witch with red hair like this rush past here?"

"Why, yes dear, she gave me quite a scare, but I couldn't catch her," Nymphadora replied, making herself sound disgustingly over-concerned. Ron Weasley, she realized, with a shock, that she knew the boy who spoke to her. It's . . . he looks woefully underdressed, and what are the Weasley's doing in St. Mungos? Nymphadora quickly pushed the questions out of her mind to maintain the illusion of a cheerful, plump hospital nurse.

"Thanks!" The other boy shouted as they raced down the hallway and through another set of gray double doors. He looks like that sniveling little man, Potter, Nymphadora mused as she continued on her way towards the stairs, deciding she would make for the exit soon. First, however, she stopped in another hospital room to grab a change of clothes and change her shape. She looked into a mirror, concentrating on thinning her features and dying her skin a beautiful mocha black. Then, she let her hair become a frizzy, ebony mane before exiting the room.

"Did a witch with ginger hair like this leave here?" Ron Weasley asked the desk clerk as she strolled into the lobby. Ignoring the two boys at the desk, who placed a look out on her, Nymphadora casually exited St. Mungos hospital and walked through the department store window into the bustling, Muggle street.

Bloody hell, what a horror, Nymphadora groaned mentally as she shuffled her way through the swarming crowd. Filthy Muggles, she thought bitterly while passing them. She grimaced as she touched their filthy clothes. However, as she ambled down the streets, her mind cleared up slightly and she began to maul over the strange events in her mind.

The Weasley's were at St. Mungos, but why? Nymphadora asked herself for the thousandth time. They wouldn't betray me, they'd get any wounds healed at headquarters, Nymphadora concluded. We have a bloody healer or two under the Imperius curse, Nymphadora growled mentally. She rubbed her temples as her mind spun around in circles like a dog chasing its tail.

Speaking of dogs, where is Sirius? Nymphadora asked herself again. She needed to see her cousin. Together, they were her Lady's best assassins and most glorified sadists of her Lady. Had he been taken to Azkaban again? Did that witch and warlock betray us some how? Nymphadora thought again, with complete loathing, of the two people whom she'd seen upon waking. She personally blamed them for bringing her to the hospital so the Aurors could cart her off to prison.

"Not today," she muttered. Her Lady needed her services, and if, somehow, the Weasley's had turned against her, siding with those who wished to destroy the Lady, she'd most certainly use the killing curse on them, too.

A newspaper, Nymphadora realized that reading one might be useful as she looked over at the stack of freshly printed Muggle papers. She headed around the city towards the shabbier part of town where the squalid poor Muggles lived. Confidently, Nymphadora entered The Leaky Cauldron and proceeded silently towards Diagon Alley, where she tapped the bricks in the correct order to enter.

She looked around, sneering at the warlocks and witches that passed by, all in big huddled groups, looking positively terrified. Finally, they fear my Lady, she thought with a triumphant smile. Then, she read a sign, warning of something called Death Eaters and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"Lady?" Nymphadora pleaded quietly, as if talking to the poster she read. Where is my Lady? Who is this imposter, calling himself a Lord, that everyone fears? They should fear my Lady! Nymphadora thought as her mind seethed in rage.

Nymphadora made herself leave the poster to purchase a paper with the sickles in the witch's pockets she'd stolen. She then resumed staring at the blasphemous sign, trying to fathom how this fraud of a wizard could have replaced her glorious Lady. She clutched the paper in her white knuckles as anger pumped through her skull.

No, if they fear this wizard, they will fear my glorious Lady, Nymphadora concluded after reading the headline on the _Daily Prophet_:

**Fear Sweeps Yorkshire after Muggle Attack**

However, she smiled slightly, pleased that this wizard had enough sense to kill the filthy Muggles. However, my Lady is superior, Nymphadora reassured herself as she read about the two dozen Muggles that had died in the vicious attack. She flipped through the paper, reading about the various bunglings of the Ministry of Magic, although the name of the Minister and his staff didn't register most of the time.

'The Chosen One' kept coming up in smaller articles and editorials, but Nymphadora kept combing through the paper, trying to find the name of Sirius Black. However, she did read something interesting about Death Eaters, the servant of the usurping Dark Wizard who, Nymphadora thought, was trying to steal her Lady's rightful throne.

I will honor my Lady, Nymphadora pledged to herself, pressing her index finger and middle finger of her right hand above her heart, where the Kiss of Death should be. She felt her heart skip a beat because its familiar presence was lost. It wasn't there. I can still honor my Lady without it, Nymphadora told herself.

Avery's death will please her, Nymphadora reflected with pride. Sirius, my cousin, my partner, where have you gone? Nymphadora felt her spirits drop as she thought of the only relative that she'd ever trusted.

------

Tonks tentatively opened the door, wand ready in her shaky hand. The heavy door slid open, and she stared at the room, bathed in feeble, wavering candlelight. No fires burned in this damp room, and only a long, polished, cherry table that looked like it could've been in the Great Hall sat on the floor, surrounded by a flock of stools.

"Nymphadora," Sirius said, motioning her to sit beside him at one end of the long table that stretched the length of the room. Tonks ducked to get under the low doorframe, and if she'd been any taller, the ceiling would've been too low, also. However, she obeyed Sirius, too stunned to really consider another option.

He looks the same, was Tonks's first thought. Sirius still appeared worn from Azkaban and his hair hung down to his shoulders in a raggedy mess. Tonks surveyed him as she cautiously ambled over to Sirius, who'd pulled out a three-legged stool for her to sit on.

"Ah, the famous Nymphadora decides to grace us with her presence," the raspy speaker spoke to Tonks as she sat opposite him and beside Sirius. It is a male, Tonks realized as she scrutinized the thin, almost corpse like figure sitting across from her. His eyes and cheeks were sunken into his face, and the long, unkempt and presumably unwashed hair that hung down his back gave this man a disturbing aura.

"Igor," Sirius snapped at the grotesque man. What horrid fingers, Tonks thought as she watched the man tap his thin, twig like fingers on the table, and his brittle, long nails clicked against the solid wood. In the faint light, his skin appeared a sickly shade of green.

"I'll not touch this one," Igor said quickly and nodded towards Tonks. "Ma Lady would torture me beyond the grave. Aye, I hear that's where you put Avery."

I killed someone? Tonks thought as Igor laughed, but it sounded more like a wheezing chew toy. Avery, that's a Death Eater, Tonks remembered the name, but then, remembered that the horrible Igor accused her of killing him. An uninvited chill shot up her spine.

"Stupid blood traitors," Sirius spat, interrupting Tonks's thoughts. Wait, aren't we blood traitors? Tonks mused. She tried to figure out the mess she'd been tossed into. She looked over at Sirius, who looked as scraggly and ragged as he did before he'd died.

"Well, what are you going to do about them?" Tonks ventured the question, trying to sound casual. Igor wheezed again, apparently amused, but Tonks watched as Sirius sat there, and then, a slow, devious sneer spread over his face.

"I'll gut her, the filthy little traitor, marrying a mudblood," Sirius began to talk slowly, his voice low pitched and full of obvious pleasure as Tonks saw the wheels turn in his head at the thoughts of death and torture.

"Then, I'll murder the mudblood husband, and we'll torture the boy, put him under the Imperius curse," Sirius grinned pleasantly at the thought. "Then, it'll be time to finish the other one, who got away. I'll purge the filthy blood from this world, one little traitor at a time."

"Aye, tell me, I'd like to see that. Maybe the Lady will let me lick the blood," Igor said eagerly, smacking his lips after he mentioned blood. He's a vampire, Tonks realized. Gods, he's a horrid vampire, addicted to blood and gore, Tonks thought, instantly becoming more alert. She didn't want to fall pray to a vampire tonight.

"Don't speak of _Her_ like that," Sirius's voice became hard and stern again. Igor flinched slightly as Sirius's wand hand moved. For Tonks, hearing the delight of death gone from her cousin's voice relieved her. What have Sirius and I done? Tonks's mind raced, wondering why Igor feared Sirius so much. I know he's a skilled wizard, but . . .

However, Tonks's contemplation about Sirius Black disappeared as the basement door slammed open and a tall man ducked under the doorframe. He wore ebony black robes, but the hood that could hide his face in shadows hung limply behind him. I've seen his face some where, Tonks realized instantly that she'd seen this man before. He's . . . a Death Eater, one of them, she combed her memory, remembering a couple similar looking pictures, but this man appeared much healthier than any of the Death Eater's had in their Azkaban mug shots.

"I disposed of the body. After we're done, of course, they'll realize Avery is dead," the man said, as if picking up part of a left-off conversation. Well, maybe it was part of a previous conversation, Tonks mused, realizing she could've been there, but she still had no memory of it, which made her head ache as she tried to rationalize that piece of information.

"I wonder if they'll figure it out," Sirius sneered. "That is, until we have a family reunion."

"A family reunion, maybe invite a couple of Hogwarts school mates," the man chuckled coldly as he took a seat beside Tonks. He turned towards her, a huge grin plastered on his face. However, Tonks thought, it didn't look like he was angry with her. On the contrary, he had total admiration for her in his deep, brown eyes that looked like black pits that reflected the weak lighting.

"I heard you killed Avery," the man said as he locked eyes with Tonks, a note of loving caress in his voice. Tonks hesitated for a moment, but then nodded slowly. The man smiled triumphantly, looking away from Tonks as if expecting a whole room of people there to witness what he considered highly important.

"She's killed others," Sirius said stiffly, as if waiting for something to resume. Tonks felt sweat begin to form on her forehead. She tried to swallow and keep her mind strong so that these two wizards couldn't read it. I don't know what's happened to Sirius, but gods, this isn't getting better, Tonks realized frantically. Any reassurance she'd found in Sirius still looking the same completely evaporated.

"But to kill the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and his secretary, my, it is an accomplishment!" The man exclaimed proudly. He patted Tonks on her shoulder, and she fought the urge to cringe.

"Well, if they know they're dead yet, it's not much use, eh?" Igor cackled from across the table.

"It's also useless if my brother-in-law hasn't kept his promise to make the Polyjuice Potion for us," Sirius snapped again at the enthralled man. This time, the man-who-I-might-know, thought Tonks, turned to look at Sirius. He looked agitated at being snapped out of his reverie of Tonks killing a Ministry employee.

"Yes, yes, of course, enough for several days, and then some, to be safe," the man muttered, waving his hand as if this was an easy accomplishment. "Do you have the hairs, Sirius?"

"Of course," Sirius growled as he produced two little bags and handed them to the other man, who studied them over. "The clear one is the secretary's hair, and the larger chunk covered in blood is a piece I personally ripped from Avery while he happened to still be alive."

"Fabulous," the man muttered as he opened the bags to stare at the contents. He nodded his approval after a couple minutes before he stashed the two bags deep within the black folds of his robe.

"So, Sirius and I'll be in disguise as the Head and his secretary?" Tonks ventured the question, realizing that the two men planned to do something. It's probably not legal, and maybe, I helped plan it, Tonks thought bitterly as she realized she'd have to go along with whatever they suggested until she knew more about her odd situation that continued to frighten her more at every word she heard.

"Yes, you'll be the secretary, and I think Sirius should be Avery," the man suggested firmly. "He can't creep back into Azkaban the way he escaped."

"I could, you know, with the Dementors gone," Sirius replied staunchly. It didn't surprise Tonks that Sirius went to Azkaban, but hearing that he wanted to break into Azkaban? That can only mean one thing, Tonks realized as if she'd collided with a solid brick wall: Sirius was going back in to get prisoners _out_.

"Sure, but no chances. If _you_ bungle _this_ mission, _She'll_ do _worse_ than send you to Azkaban," the man threatened Sirius this time. Tonks looked between the two of them, watching Sirius's resolute and slightly arrogant air shrink under the crushing stern stare of the other man.

"Fine, but _you're_ supposed to be on board, too," Sirius growled in a low voice to the other wizard, who reached inside his robes and pulled out a little pouch, which he handed to Sirius.

"I killed myself a boat man tonight," the warlock's voice lowered to a deep tone that chilled Tonks's blood. Killers surround me, but I'm supposed to be one? Tonks mused as she tried to piece everything together.

"I see," Sirius replied in an even voice. He nodded his consent, which seemed to end the argument between the two men. "So, Azkaban tomorrow."

"Yes, and then all four Lestranges will be back in Her service," the man spoke reverently of the idea.

But Tonks hardly heard him. She scrutinized him again and realized that this warlock was none other than Rodolphus Lestrange. He looked healthy, with a fully filled out face and no trace of the years in Azkaban etched into his features. Maybe he never went to Azkaban, Tonks pondered this absurd idea. Rodolphus got caught years ago and convicted to prison, silly girl, Tonks tried to reassure herself. But Sirius had died, too.

"Andromeda and I will finish what we started," Sirius said, now grinning in a lustful anticipation that twisted his features in a way that Tonks had never seen them before. A deadly sparkle glinted in his eyes, and Tonks felt terrified of the cousin she once loved.

"Mum," Tonks muttered, realizing Sirius had spoke about Andromeda. What's mum got to do with this? Tonks wondered, but she secretly feared the answer. If mum changed like Sirius, I don't know what I'll do, Tonks thought, trying to fight the fear welling up inside of her.

"Yes, and she'll be so proud of you," Rodolphus told Tonks again, his voice over whelmed in pride for her. "Her little daughter, breaking her out of Azkaban."

(I've heard an interesting rumor that author notes aren't allowed any more. SO, if they aren't, I'll remove this. But anyway, since I haven't heard back from the fanfic support group either way, I'm putting this up.)

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. I appriciate it, and I've changed the title because I wanted something, well, different, or more interesting, ect. Anyway, this is the story, as it is for now, and I hope you like this chapter. Waiting to hear from you soon. I really do read and think about every review I get, so thanks bunches for those who review. Also, SSoV, Harry is coming in soon, but not yet, not even in chapter 5.

Chapter Five: Miss Trelawney

(Back to Hermione, who isn't having a very good day either, especially when she finds out she's friends with people she hardly knows, let alone likes.)


	5. Miss Trelawney

**Chapter Five: Miss Trelawney**

"What was that for?" Hermione gasped as Zabini released her from their intense snogging session.

"Can't I snog my girl friend?" Zabini asked, a huge, dopey smile plastered all over his tan face.

"Girl friend," Hermione whispered deftly. No, no, he shouldn't even be up here, it's summer time, and I'm not his girl friend! Hermione thought desperately. She took a couple steps away from Zabini, not wanting to be scoped up in his arms again for any reason.

"Yes, since this summer, remember. No one is in the room, so I thought you wouldn't mind," Zabini sounded a little more sober now, his voice taking on a defensive tone. Hermione backed her way into a chair, and felt safer standing several meters away from Zabini. If he pulls anything on me, I swear I'll hex him; Hermione steeled herself for the worst and gripped her wand so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"Why don't you leave me alone?" Hermione tried to sound threatening, but her voice came out in soft whisper. Zabini's brow furrowed as he looked closely at her, which sent Hermione's heart thundering. Just think, Hermione, you can figure it out, she told herself.

"I thought it would be romantic if I waited for you to come down to breakfast. I thought you'd consider it, well, thoughtful," Zabini spoke slowly to Hermione, as if trying to decide something. I should just hex him and run, Hermione thought, but then realized she didn't understand what was happening, so where would she go?

"That's nice," Hermione spoke quickly and tried to fake a smile. Zabini took two cautious steps towards her, and Hermione thought of a couple non-verbal spells that she wanted to use, but stopped herself to study his face. He didn't look smug or indifferent, like the Slytherin Zabini she'd seen before, but deep concern and genuine caring echoed in his chocolate eyes.

"Are you feeling okay?" Zabini asked her gently, taking another step towards Hermione. Hermione swallowed her fear, trying to figure out this boy who seemed completely transfigured from who he was when she'd seen him last.

"I think we should go to breakfast," Hermione found her voice a tad more steady. Zabini frowned and scrutinized her for a few moments before nodding his consent. She let him lead her towards the portrait hole and followed him docilely into the hallway.

Don't let your guard down, Hermione told herself. This is all too strange to just let this boy just take you somewhere Hermione thought as she followed Zabini a couple steps down the hallway, which she clearly recognized as the seventh floor corridor.

I need to do something, Hermione thought desperately, standing in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, unable to decide how to move. Should I follow him? She wondered as the tall boy strode down the hallway.

"Zabini?" Hermione called to him. Instantly, he spun around on his heals, his black school robe billowing behind him as he practically ran back to Hermione.

"_Impedimenta_!" Zabini shouted as Hermione went to ask him something about the time of year. However, all thoughts of what day or month it was disappeared from Hermione's mind as she froze, unable to move.

"What are you doing!" Hermione shrieked, unable to get her wand. ACCIO WAND! Hermione thought. ACCIO BLOODY WAND! Hermione shouted non-verbally, since she couldn't move. This is too much like that place, Hermione thought as her breathing became shallow and frantic.

"When do friends use surnames?" Zabini spat as he approached Hermione. He studied her, his eyes now steely and calculating. "I think you've had a jinx put on you, Trelawney."

"No, I'm fine, just let me go!" Hermione hollered, absolutely confused. She tried to fight the spell, but as she thrashed around, hopelessness began to dawn on her. Hermione felt her chest constrict, and her vision blurred. However, before she began to sob, Zabini released her from the spell, but in an instant, her legs locked up, and she fell forward, but to her surprise, Zabini caught her, straightening her up the best he could. However, he conveniently nicked the wand out of her hand, also.

"We're going to the hospital wing," he announced firmly. Damn, he used a non-verbal on me, Hermione realized. Then, Zabini waved his wand and lifted her above the ground. He walked beside her, and kept her floating, her legs firmly bound together.

"I'm not under a curse," Hermione told Zabini once she'd gotten over the initial shock and frustration of being put under a set of spells and toted off as if she were a criminal. "Also, since when do you pull the Leg Locker Curse on your girl friend?"

"Shut up," Zabini muttered. Hermione noticed he wouldn't meet her eyes, though. She stared at his head of thick dark hair, which glistened healthily in the light that was streaming through the tall, ornate windows along their particular corridor.

Ron, Harry, where are you? I need you right now to believe me, Hermione pleaded mentally. What I wouldn't give for anyone remotely normal, Hermione wished silently as she watched the other youth as the silence grew between them.

"Blaise," Hermione said soothingly, deciding to use his name, since that's what seemed to have sent him off. "I'm sorry, okay, I wasn't feeling myself."

"Yeah, and curses and hexes do that to you, especially the Imperious Curse" the boy replied, trying to keep his voice hard and indifferent. Hermione frowned slightly, wondering what he was getting at. Does he seriously believe I'm under the Imperious Curse? Hermione scoffed silently, but then, a sickening thought occurred to her. It doesn't go from summer to winter overnight, and I am back at Hogwarts, which could mean I've been under the curse for roughly five or six months, Hermione thought as her stomach dropped out.

"I-I didn't mean it," Hermione whispered an apology to no one in particular. She felt horrified at the thought of being commanded to do someone else's bidding. But that still doesn't explain Zabini in Gryffindor, or for that matter, him calling me Trelawney, Hermione rationalized out a couple more facts to comfort herself.

"Sorry, Mione, but I got to check," Zabini muttered as he took her down to the third floor. They walked alone through the chilly, deserted hallways, and Hermione caught a glimpse of his downtrodden looking face. It's so different from how he looked when he met me, she thought as Zabini knocked on the door of the hospital ward.

"This early?" A plump warlock answered the door. He wore a white robe, but underneath Hermione caught sight of flannel blue and white striped pajamas. He looked at Zabini and motioned him to bring Hermione into the ward.

"I want you to check her for any curses, hexes, or jinxes," Zabini told the balding male healer, whom Hermione thought looked like the twin of the Fat Friar. The healer nodded as Zabini brought Hermione over to a bed and laid her down.

It looks the same Hermione mused as she lay on the bed, waiting for the healer to make his way over to her. I've been in here so many times, Hermione realized as she lay in the bed that one of her friends or even she could've lain in before. At least once each year I've made a visit here, if not at least three times or more, Hermione mused as she looked up into the slate gray sky, flecked with falling snow, through one of the windows that let an ample amount of light into the ward.

"Okay, Miss Trelawney, this will only take a couple moments, if Mr. Zabini doesn't get too picky," the healer said with a quick smile as he handed Hermione something to drink. "Take that spell off her or else I won't be able to discern anything!"

Hermione felt her legs become limp again, and she knew Zabini had listened to the Healer, who began to prod Hermione with his wand. He whipped the curtain around Hermione's bed shut as he began to examine her. He gave Hermione a few things to drink, most of which seemed to soothe or at least relax her mind.

"Name? Age? Grade? House?" The healer asked casually after he'd gone over her several times.

"Hermione, seventeen, sixth year, Gryffindor," Hermione replied before she realized she'd done so. The healer gave a slight nod as he gave Hermione another drink and probed her with his wand again, muttering slightly under his breath.

"Do you remember being attacked since the beginning of the school year?" The healer asked casually as he stopped prodding Hermione, who was becoming slightly uncomfortable with the wand jabbing into tender parts of her body.

"Blaise attacked me," Hermione said and remembered to use his first name. "Nothing major since then, I suppose," Hermione said, deciding this wasn't a lie, since she hadn't been attacked here at Hogwarts since she returned this morning, to her knowledge.

"Any thing else?" The fat healer jabbed her with his wand a couple more times.

"No," Hermione replied wearily, ready to leave the hospital ward now.

"Drink this, it'll calm you down and help counteract the potions I put in your system," the healer thrust a huge glass into her hands. Hermione drank greedily, finding that the liquid tasted not too sweet, sour, or tangy. Thank gods that's over with, she thought as she finished the drink.

"Nothing is wrong with her, Mr. Zabini. Whatever happened between the two of you, well, it's something normal, and you'll have to talk it out," the healer told Zabini, and his words made Hermione pause before pushing the curtain aside. Normal, yeah right, but at least now he believes somebody hasn't gone and used me, Hermione tried to reassure herself. In the back of her mind, she tried to bury the thought that she could've been under the Imperious Curse, but the thought of Madam Rosmerta came unbidden into her mind.

"Sir Chumway, are you sure?" Zabini asked in a strained voice. However, the healer just laughed merrily.

"Yes, I'm sure," he chuckled as Hermione drew the curtain aside. Both wizards looked over at her, and she gave them a convincing smile. Zabini looked ashamed and avoided Hermione's stare, but Sir Chumway gestured for her to come over. Hermione walked across the ward and gave the healer back his cup.

"Thank you, Miss, and I don't want to see you back any time soon," he said as he winked at Hermione. "If it isn't you getting cursed, it's him falling off his broom."

"I've only fallen off my broom twice," Zabini said defensively. However, he grinned up at the healer. "Does Draco hold the record, yet?"

"No, not yet, and you tell Miss Pettigrew and Mr. Malfoy to keep out of this ward. I haven't missed all work they conjure up for me," the healer chastised Zabini, but his tone was lighthearted and Hermoine could tell he didn't really mean anything hurtful.

"I'll tell them you miss us," Zabini joked around with the healer. Hermione felt relieved to see the smiling, genuinely good-natured boy that she'd met this morning come back. He reacted very fast when he thought I was an imposter, Hermione mused as the healer opened the door to usher the two of them out. However, I'm not his girl friend, well, at least I'm not who he thinks I am, Hermione tried to separate the strange situation into pieces to analyze it.

"So, I guess I'm the one who owes you an apology," Zabini said quietly, still refusing to meet Hermione's gaze, as they ambled away from the hospital ward. "I just was concerned, Mione. I didn't want anyone to get hurt."

"It's okay. That, well, it was ingenious, actually, and I bet people who've been under curses," again, Hermione thought of Rosmerta, "would want someone like you being extra careful."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Zabini said quietly, but then, he turned around and looked at Hermione again. His eyes held the depths of a deep, night covered forest, and Hermione read the melancholy look of love mingled with guilt.

Hermione removed her eyes from his intimate stare, forcing herself to watch where she moved. They walked down a staircase, and Hermione assumed they might be going to breakfast, but they could just as well wander aimlessly around the castle for all Hermione cared, right now. She needed time to chew the information in her head and develop something that made remote sense or at least didn't make her feel like her life had fallen out from under her.

I'm in Hogwarts, in the winter, in my, what year, seventh? Hermione wondered as they trudged along the second floor. Anyway, Blaise Zabini is in Gryffindor and believes I'm his girl friend, Hermione remembered the awkward, yet surprisingly gentle, snog they'd shared. The thought of snogging someone she didn't really even know made Hermione flush a soft pink.

Anyway, the healer is Sir Chumway, not Madam Pomfrey, and he called me Miss Trelawney, Hermione felt repulsed as she thought of being related to any Trelawney. Anyway, I'll deal with that awkward name thing later, Hermione decided, but then, speaking of names, she'd heard a couple others that didn't sound right. Pettigrew and Malfoy, Hermione remembered the healer had talked about them, too. Malfoy made sense, but Pettigrew? Miss Pettigrew?

"Oi! Where have you two been? You missed breakfast!" Hermione blinked out of her contemplation to see Draco Malfoy shouting down the corridor at her. He looks the same with that slicked hair, except, oh gods, he's wearing a Gryffindor badge on his robes, Hermione realized with horror as she looked Malfoy over.

However, beside him walked one person Hermione saw that comforted her slightly, although seeing her beside Malfoy equally disturbed her. Luna walked down the hall beside Malfoy, and Hermione saw she also sported a Gryffindor badge on her robes, too. She looks different, Hermione realized as Luna approached them. She still looked the same height, but soft, honey blond curls replaced her enormous mane of frizz that made Hermione's old hair look straight. Her gaze also seemed more relaxed, and Hermione realized she had lovely emerald eyes, which was very different from the Luna she'd known.

"I need help, mates," Malfoy began talking quickly as he and Luna reached her and Zabini. The four of them turned around and headed back up to Gryffindor Tower, and Hermione assumed breakfast was over. "Snape assigned that five page essay, and I don't think I'm going to get a break on it."

"Of course you aren't," Zabini said off-handedly. "No one ever does, and I don't care how many times your parents invite him over to dinner or if they were old school friends. If he fails me, he fails you, too."

"My dad will kill me," Malfoy groaned. What's he talking about? Snape loves him, Hermione wondered as Malfoy continued to moan about essays and gripe about unfairness.

"Draco, you can cheat off me," Luna sighed as they walked through the deserted hallways, only meeting the occasional wondering ghost. "You always do, but I can't guarantee miracles on this essay."

She doesn't seem as ditzy or, well, insane, Hermione thought as she observed Luna carefully. No, Luna wasn't wearing her usual eccentric clothing, jewelry, or insane glasses that made her look like an owl. Luna seemed, contrary to the girl Hermione witnessed before, quiet relaxed, a bit more social, and even a slightly poised.

"Really? Luna, you're amazing. Maybe you could suck up to Snape!" Malfoy exclaimed. Hermione suppressed a bout of giggles at the thought of Luna brown nosing anyone, especially Snape, whom Hermione tried putting out of her mind quickly. She didn't want to bother thinking about why he was still teaching here, yet.

"Nope, sorry, I don't come with the special talent of conveniently getting a good grade in every class. Let me put it to you like this: at least Snape doesn't loathe us like Meadows," Luna told Malfoy what sounded like a fact, but Hermione frowned, trying to swallow information that seemed like lead. She honestly never remembered a day when Snape didn't loathe them or vica versa.

"I barely got into N.E.W.T. Potions! Let's not forget I got five O.W.L.S. and my dad thought I'd get ten, like him," Malfoy complained the entire way up to the Gryffindor common room. "Thanks, Blaise, for telling him 'I got eleven Outstandings.' Big help, there."

"Not my fault," Blaise shrugged. Eleven? Hermione thought helplessly. No wonder he kept me from pulling anything, the boy is a genius, Hermione thought. She felt awestruck, if not more than a bit jealous, at meeting someone whom had gotten eleven Outstandings.

"You're just lazy, Draco," Luna said casually as she gave the password 'toadstool' to the Fat Lady. The four entered into the common room, where a couple students now sat, pouring over homework. "I'm going to run up and get my books and some parchment. If we start this monster load of homework now, we might finish it before tomorrow."

"When it's bloody due," Malfoy mumbled as Luna bounded towards the girl's dormitory. Hermione followed her, her head swimming. This is awkward, Hermione thought as he followed Luna into the dorm room. Everything around me appears the same, but the people are so different; that must be the trick here, wherever here is, that all the people are different, Hermione concluded, which put her mind in an position of assurance. Hermione didn't feel safe, but now, she realized that by hanging around with Malfoy and Zabini, she might not be in danger.

"You picked a good morning to skip," Luna said as she went over the bed with the scarlet blanket and opened the worn, nut-brown trunk. "Draco whined all morning about just about everything, even going home for the holidays in two days."

"Really?" Hermione asked. Christmas is already here? Hermione thought as she rummaged around in her trunk. She grabbed her copy of _Advanced Potion Making_, along with several rolls of parchment and her quill. "Where are you spending the holidays?"

"The Malfoys gave us our official invitations to their third annual Malfoy Holiday Gala. The great thing is, it's at their house this year," Luna told Hermione as she handed the other girl a little green envelope addressed to Miss Hermione J. Trelawney. Hermione cautiously opened it, and pulled out a little card decorated in glittering snowflakes that moved down the card like real snow. She opened it to find the official invitation, which read:

Dear Hermione,

We'd be overjoyed if you'd spent the holidays at our house this year again, dear. We've got a room reserved for you and Luna, so study hard and keep safe for a couple days. We'll pick you up at King's Crossing on the 22nd of December.

Until then, much love,

Narcissa Malfoy

Hermione almost laughed at the absurdly of the entire situation. I'm going to the Malfoy house over Christmas, and his mum wrote this to me, Hermione felt her mind unravel like a ball of yarn, but it seemed almost hilarious now, as if it wasn't actually happening to Hermione. They called me Trelawney again, too, Hermione thought with disgust.

"I just can't wait, I love the holidays at Draco's," Luna sighed as she slammed her trunk lid shut with a loud bang. Hermione studied Luna carefully again as she stood there, staring dreamily out the window at the drifting snow, as if it mesmerized her.

She's still Luna, but she looks thinner, Hermione realized. Luna always had been short, but she seemed more thin, almost anorexic, and her features held a petit, but yet, not a delicate quality to them. She is shorter than I am, but my, she looks pretty, with those beautiful emerald eyes and that tiny frame of hers, Hermione mused, as she looked Luna over again.

"I suppose they'll be wanting us down stairs," Luna said as she tied up her spiraling locks in a ponytail. Then, Hermione got a good look at her soft facial features and the fair, ivory skin around her neck and face that her hair kept hidden.

She's got, oh my, she's got the scar, Hermione realized and stared shamelessly the nape of Luna's neck, just above the top of her turtle neck sweater. Even over the top of the plush, gray sweater, Hermione could now plainly see the lightning bolt shaped scar that used to be engraved into Harry's forehead.

"Hermione?" Luna asked Hermione tentatively, which snapped Hermione out of her trance. "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well, I-I like your sweater," Hermione stammered. Luna frowned and her brows furrowed as she obviously thought Hermione's actions were strange.

"I've had it forever," Luna replied with a slight frown, but she shrugged Hermione's behavior off and turned to exit the room, paper and books tucked under her arm.

However, Hermione couldn't bring herself to move for a couple moments. Luna has Harry's scar, so what does that mean? Is she Luna Potter? If I can be bloody related to Trelawney, then Luna certainly can be 'the-girl-that-lived' Hermione thought. I guess I'll have to play this out, Hermione decided as she followed Luna downstairs to do homework.


	6. The Other Ginny

**(Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They're J.K. Rowlings characters. As I said before, I only make a claim to Igor. Please review and tell me what you're thinking.)**

**Chapter Six: The Other Side of Ginny**

"You reckon she's okay?" Ron asked George, his voice hitting a surprisingly high note on the word okay. Fred and George nodded in unison. Honestly, it was becoming unsettling for the twins to see so many of their relatives lying in hospital beds in the past year or so. '_First, it was dad, then Ron and Bill, and now, Ginny. I wonder who is next,'_ Fred thought morosely. He'd been drinking and partying, and now, he sat by his unconscious sister's side.

"It's terrible, you know, how it turned out," George commented. "I mean the wedding. It was a smashing hit until this."

"Yeah, until the Death Eaters came," Harry mumbled from behind the twins where he remained standing. Ron looked over at his friend, who'd been quiet since he'd entered the hospital. However, when he'd found Hermione and Ginny, Harry went bonkers, and Charlie had to restrain him from chasing down a couple of Death Eaters, who would've killed him instantly because he was acting rashly.

"It happens," Fred quietly said, realizing it did happen all the time now. It just happened they'd crashed their wedding this time. '_This,'_ Fred mused_, 'probably, was unlucky for the Dark Lord's servants, since they confronted a house full of well-trained witches and wizards that were mostly members of the Order.'_

"We should have been prepared," Harry muttered. '_I should've known, maybe they were after me,'_ Harry thought, loathing himself for letting harm come to his friends. He should've known; he should've protected them.

"Yeah, but no one got killed," Ron pointed out, his voice cracking on the word killed. '_Yeah, no one got killed_,' Ron thought bitterly, but for him, the attack hithis home and his family. His sister and Hermione almost died, and if they had, Ron really didn't know what he would've done, but he would've done something drastic he assured himself.

"Go check on Hermione, and we'll stay with Ginny," Fred suggested to the two boys. Ron looked up at Harry, who gazed intently at Ginny, and Harry didn't appear he heard Fred at all.

"Harry, just go, mate, we'll stay here with her," George spoke up, deciding Harry had spent too much time in this room to be healthy for him. Ron stood up and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. For a moment, Harry didn't move, and his eyes remained transfixed on Ginny's brilliant ginger hair, but then, he turned and nodded deftly. Ron walked out of the room first, and Harry followed almost soundlessly like a phantom.

"Ron," Harry whispered as the doors closed behind them. "You see why I have to go? If I stay, they'll hunt people because of me."

"Yeah, then they'll get you because they'll be no one else there," Ron muttered under his breath, even though the glistening, white hallway appeared empty. "Don't be thick and run."

"I got to, you don't understand," Harry hissed under his breath, hoping Ron would understand. However, Ron frowned and shook his head.

"I do understand because you told me!" Ron shouted hoarsely, fed up with Harry insisting he had toleave. He'd almost not attended the wedding, and since the attack, his whining about being a burden doubled in intensity.

"What happened?" Ron and Harry stopped talking as they heard Charlie shout from the other side of a pair of doors that separated the particular wing in two. Then, the doors flung open, and Charlie ran threw. "Did you see Tonks?"

"She's awake?" Ron gaped.

"She just attacked us and ran off," Charlie explained as he rushed past the boys. Harry and Ron gazed with huge eyes at each other before charging off in the opposite direction. They raced down the hallway, which started to fill up with healers and other curious people coming out to see what happened.

"Tonks! Tonks!" Ron shouted as they bolted at top speed down the hospital ward. Ron turned to a nurse as they charged down the direction that Charlie told them Tonks might have fled. "Did you see a witch with red hair like this rush past here?" Ron asked as he yanked at his own hair.

"Why, yes dear, she gave me quite a scare, but I couldn't catch her," the witch told them airily, but that was all they needed to hear.

"Thanks!" Harry hollered as Ron and he thundered down the hospital wing, hoping they got to the door before Tonks did.

"Did a witch with ginger hair like this leave here?" Ron panted to the desk clerk as they reached the front door.

"What's her name? I don't know if we discharged a 'witch with ginger hair' or not unless I get a name," the clerk replied sarcastically.

"No, we think she's trying to escape," Harry explained. "She woke up and attacked some people that were by her bed."

"I didn't hear of that, but no, there's been nobody discharged in the last hour," the clerk said after skimming through a stack of papers. Ron groaned, trying to think where in the hospital Tonks went to, but realized they'd probably catch her anyway.

"Ron, she's a metamorphmagus!" Harry shouted. Ron spun around and met Harry's huge eyes before doing a complete three hundred sixty degree turn to look at the desk clerk again.

"Did anyone leave the hospital lately?" Ron asked nervously. The clerk rubbed his temples and pointed at the doors. Ron and Harry spun around, but only saw the normal hustle and bustle of people entering the hospital with odd injuries or leaving, most looking tired and weary.

"If your friend is a metamorphmagus, she could've left any time. You think I keep track of everyone that comes and goes?" the clerk snapped, and Ron and Harry exchanged troubled glances, knowing full well that they weren't going to catch Tonks. "Now, boys, would you kindly let me check these people in?"

"Sure, sure," Ron muttered as Harry and him plodded back up to the wing where Ginny and Hermione's rooms were located. They didn't say anything, both feeling slightly disappointed, and Harry personally felt disturbed that Tonks had attacked anyone in the Order. _'Why did she do that?'_ Harry wondered as they entered the hallway where several healers bustled around the halls.

"Aye!" Fred shouted as he walked out of Hermione's room. "I thought you went to see Hermione?"

"We didn't make it there," Ron replied shortly.

"Ginny woke up," Fred said anxiously. Ron's jaw fell open, but Harry dashed towards Ginny's room_. 'What if she's like Tonks?'_ Harry desperately thought as he flung open the doors and thundered over to Ginny's bed.

"Ginny?" Harry panted, gasping right after he wheezed out her name. Ginny moaned about something and rolled over on her side. She groaned and rubbed her temples, and in the back of Harry's mind, he feared serious damage had been done to her.

"What?" Ginny muttered in a groggy voice. She lay there, just moaning and mumbling under her breath for a while, and Harry felt his heart pounding so hard he thought it might go through his chest.

"You're okay?" Harry asked hesitantly and held his breath. Ginny grumbled about feeling dirty and then looked up into Harry's eyes. She squinted and shook her head before looking around the room.

"What? No, I don't think so," Ginny hissed as she ran her hands through her hair and gasped. Harry watched, dumbfounded, as Ginny stroked the ends of her hair. "They're all split! I look horrid!"

"I'd say beautiful," Harry replied gently, trying to get Ginny to calm down, but she just let out an exasperated yell and threw her hands into the air. Then, she hopped out of the bed like a rabbit before Harry could stop her. _'No!' _Harry panicked as he lunged between where Ginny stood and the door.

"I'm a peasant!" Ginny moaned as she looked herself over. '_She didn't attack anyone or escape,'_ Harry reassured himself as Ginny scrutinized her clothes and skin in a mirror. Harry blinked stupidly, trying to understand this profoundly new Ginny.

"Ginny!" Fred, George, and Ron shouted as they burst through the doors. Ginny didn't spare them a glance, but concentrated completely on her face, moaning as she counted all of her freckles.

"Ginny?" Ron asked awkwardly after the trio of brothersstopped behind Harry, who seemed deft to their entrance. Once again, Ginny ignored them as she observed her nails and compared their lengths.

"I feel horrible!" Ginny shouted in frustration as a couple tears rolled down her cheeks. Harry shuffled forward a couple steps, but then, Mrs. Weasley lunged through the gawking boys to throw her arms around Ginny.

"What are you doing!" Ginny hollered as Mrs. Weasley locked her in an all encompassing embrace. However, the mother didn't seem to notice Ginny's frantic plea as she kissed her daughter's forehead. However, the four boys became aware of the bitter anger that began to increase and distorther usually pleasantfeatures.

"Mum!" Ron shouted as Fred and George each grabbed one of their mother's arms and pulled her away from Ginny, who resembled a wet hornet now.

"Is . . . is she alright?" Bill panted and gasped for breath as he stormed through the door, almost immediately after his mother. '_She's acting how Fleur said Tonks acted,'_ Bill realized as he watched his sister fume and gnash her teeth which made her look a lot like her mum. However, it would've almost been comical if Mrs. Weasley weren't pleading with Ginny to calm down and begging her to give her a hug.

"Get a healer," Bill commanded Harry as he walked over to his mum and sister. Harry nodded deftly and sprinted out of the room and down the immaculate hallway until he spotted a healer coming out of another room.

"We need help!" Harry shouted as he caught his breath. The healer gave a quick nod as he promptly followed Harry back towards Ginny's room, where Bill managed to coax his mum and Ginny apart by a couple more feet.

"Why am I here? You didn't tell me that!" Ginny accused Bill and balked away from the healer as he strode over to her. "Don't touch me! I'm filthy enough!"

"You look fine, dear, and you can have a shower," Mrs. Weasley said hopefully, as if that might pacify Ginny. However, Ginny bawled up both fists until they turned white, and she pursed her lips so tightly she resembled a fish.

"Miss, you need to calm down," the healer said evenly, but Ginny fixed him with a glare like a serrated knife. However, this didn't seem to faze the healer as he passed through the melee towards Ginny, who planted her hand firmly on her hips.

"What kind of joke is this?" Ginny spat as she scanned the entire room with a fiery gaze. The healer, however, took her moment of lax concentration on him to draw his wand and stun her. After the healer put Ginny back into her bed, the tension in the room slackened like a wet cord.

"She's . . . my little girl," Mrs. Weasley moaned as she stood beside her unconscious daughter's bedside again. Bill walked over and placed a hand on his mum's shoulder. Ron, Harry, Fred, and George hung back by the door, however, too stunned to come close to the bed again. _'What happened to her?_' Harry thought as he replayed the scenes of Ginny's rage again in his mind.

--------------

Goyle held her close, feeling around the inside of her mouth with his tongue. With the onslaught of Goyle's saliva in her mouth, Ginny retaliated and kneed Goyle in the family jewels.

"Pig!" Ginny spat as she pulled herself out of Goyle's embrace. She gagged because she could still taste Goyle's breath in her mouth.

"Ooo," Goyle moaned from where he lay, curled up in the fetal position on the thick, emerald rug. Ginny didn't wait before rushing towards the portrait, her hair streaming behind her. She ignored the gasps from the other students that gaped at the scene which just occurred. _'I don't give a damn what they think! I don't care if I am supposed to be here! I'm leaving!'_ Ginny decided as she shoved open the portal into the damp hallway in the dungeons.

Ginny raced up the hallway, looking for something familiar. '_I want out of these hellish dungeons and far away from bloody Slytherin!'_ Ginny thought as she charged up several sets of moving staircases.

"Creevey!" Ginny shouted as she spotted Colin Creevey walking away from her down the corridor. _'Someone I know!_' Ginny thought as she panted and caught her breath before shouting at Colin again. "Creevey!"

He turned around, but his face widened in horror at seeing Ginny. He scuttled onto a staircase before Ginny could catch him. _'Why did he do that?'_ Ginny thought hotly as she leaned against the wall before trudging down the corridor.

_'Why did Colin run from me? I've never done anything to him,'_ Ginny mused over Colin's strange behavior as she ambled down the hallway_. 'He's in my year, and he's always adored me,'_ Ginny remembered how Colin would always take her picture with that bloody camera of his because he thought, as Ginny remembered him saying, 'You're a perfect witch!'

"Password?"

Ginny blinked and stopped inches short of running into a wall. Ginny looked up at the familiar looking portrait of the Fat Lady, who had her arms crossed as she scrutinized Ginny. "Abstinence," Ginny said absent-mindedly.

"Dear, I think you're lost," the Fat Lady clucked at Ginny. Ginny frowned, disheartened that her password didn't work.

"I'm not lost," Ginny retorted as she glared at the Fat Lady. "Could you tell me the bloody password?"

"Hmm! Well, I don't give it out to snippy Slytherin girls," the Fat Lady said disdainfully as she stuck her nose up in the air at Ginny. "Go along. You're not great company, and I'll report that you're harassing Gryffindor students."

"I'm not! I am from Gryffindor!" Ginny screamed hysterically at the portrait. "I'm sick of everyone not believing me!"

"Young lady, control yourself!" The Fat Lady commanded Ginny. At that moment, Ginny heard giggling from around the corridor. She turned and watched Hannah Abbot, Millicent Bulstrode, and Mandy Brocklehurst turn the cornerwhilelaughing and talking with each other. She'd never seen those particular three girls together, and the sight of them enjoying each other's company caused Ginny's jaw to drop open so she resembled a frog trying to catch a bug.

"Toa . . . Weasley," Hannah started to say the password, but she stopped short, and her voice turned hostile when she saw Ginny. '_She_ _looks_ _so_ _much_ _colder than a moment ago_,' Ginny realized as Hannah took a step in front of Millicent and Mandy. "Stooping to our level?"

"I . . . no, I want into the tower," Ginny sputtered as she met Hannah's gray-blue eyes that simmered with loathing. _'She's in Gryffindor_,' Ginny realized with a start as she saw Hannah's Gryffindor badge. '_Millicent and Mandy must be in Gryffindor, too_,' Ginny thought as her stomach gave another nauseous churn like she'd just eaten a Puking Pastille.

"_You_ want in the tower?" Hannah asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow at the bewildered Ginny. "Yeah, _sure_, Weasley, I'll be _glad_ to let a Muggle-born hater and Slytherin slut into our common room."

"But . . . why . . . why does no one bloody understand!" Ginny stuttered in unbelief. "That's not me! That's not bloody me!"

"Maybe she should see the healer," Millicent whispered timidly from behind Hannah. However, Hannah scowled and planted one hand on her hip while she whipped her wand out. She leveled it with Ginny's throat before Ginny could even think 'accio wand.'

"Get out of here," Hannah ordered sharply. Ginny flexed her fingers, debating whether she should just hex Hannah. _'No, then, they'll think . . . I don't know, but they'll think I'm really what they called me,'_ Ginny remembered Hannah's biting words, and then, briefly scanned the trio of girls again.

"No fighting! I'll turn all of you in, I swear it!" The Fat Lady reprimanded the four girls, and Hannah glanced up at her to argue the point. Ginny turned on her heals and dashed down the hallway and onto another set of moving stairs, taking the opportunity of Hannah's distraction to escape.

_'Why? What did I ever do to Muggle-born wizards and witches?_' Ginny wondered as she plodded down the stairway onto the next level. _'Hannah was really going to hex me,'_ Ginny thought, still partially loathing that she ran away. '_I should've explained, and told them I'd been attacked . . .'_

"Weasley! Watch yourself!"

Ginny jolted backwards and stumbled over her heels, which flew over her head as she landed hard on her back. Ginny groaned and cursed her stiletto boots as she pushed herself up to see the speaker, who, to Ginny's shock, was none other than Neville Longbottom.

"Neville! I'm so glad to see you," Ginny wheezed as she forced herself to her feet. However, much to Ginny's anguish, Neville, too, drew his wand on her. _'He's taller, and looks, well, stronger,_' Ginny observed Neville in the moments of silent tension between them.

"I can't say I return the favor," Neville replied shrewdly in a manor rather unlike the kind and bumbling boy Ginny knew. "Miss Weasley, I'd appreciate it very much if you'd please leave me alone today. I'm aware seeing me and hexing a 'stupid Hufflepuff vermin' would be an ideal day for you, but it's not for me."

"I . . . you're in Hufflepuff?" Ginny asked Neville as she read his badge, which did indeed say Hufflepuff. Beside it, Neville also wore a fancy silver P for Prefect. "I didn't call you . . ."

"Again, Miss Weasley, I'm on my way to the library after Potter gets out of the bathroom, so please, I must add my appreciation for a hex free day," Neville reiterated, and Ginny began to find his self-assuming manor annoying. _'He's like bloody Ernie MacMillan,_' Ginny thought ruefully as she bit her lip, trying to think how to convince this overdriven Neville that she truly meant him no harm.

"I . . . I'm your friend! And Harry's!" Ginny shouted, remembering Neville mentioned Harry. _'Gods, if anyone believes me, it'll be Harry!_' Ginny rallied her thoughts together in a burst of glee. "I'd never hurt you! Don't be thick, Neville! Whatever is doing this, fight it!"

"Weasley, have you gone mental?" a boy with dirt brown, matted down hair whispered from behind Neville.

"Harry!" Ginny shouted exuberantly as a shorter, plumper version of Harry turned the corner into their hallway.

"Well, chap, looks like she has," the Ernie like Neville replied sadly. However, Ginny gaped repeatedly at Harry, as if she'd never seen him before, which, in truth, she'd never seen him like _this_. "I personally think it all got to her, you know, and Malfoy's hex just made her loose her marbles, which means she might . . ."

"Do you remember all the summers at the Burrow? The Quidditch World Cup? How you saved me in the Chamber?" Ginny pleaded with Harry, who appeared as timid as the Neville she remembered, not the macho version barring Ginny from getting a step closer to Harry.

"Um . . ." Harry muttered, shooting flickering glances up at Ginny's eyes, but backing away in fear every time he met her forceful gaze. _'No, this can't be,_' Ginny fought her head, refusing to believe what her mind concluded: Harry never loved her.

"Harry?" Ginny begged him again as she met the soft, timid hazel eyes. '_They, we were friends_,' Ginny felt her insides collapse and become gooey and numb.

"Miss Weasley, you're acting ridiculous, although, I must say, it's a right good change," Neville added, talking more to Harry than to Ginny.

"Neville?" Ginny pleaded with Neville as she met his bright, glittering eyes. _'No, it's not the Neville I know,'_ Ginny realized and tried to keep her throat from knotting up like a badly tangled ball of yarn.

"Harry?" Ginny implored the mousey boy behind Neville. They met eyes, and Ginny couldn't swallow as tears formed in her eyes. '_They're not his eyes_,' the realization became irrevocable in Ginny's mind. The hazel eyes gazing at her weren't Harry's eyes because, Ginny knew in her heart, this just wasn't her Harry.

"I think you should go to the Sir Chumway," Neville added resolutely, but Ginny spun around and ran pell-mell in the opposite direction, leaving the pair alone.

_'This isn't real, this isn't right_,' Ginny's thoughts swirled together in her head, yet ended up in the same spot. Her mind chased itself in circles, trying to find a loophole to the nightmare she'd fallen into. Ginny shoved open the door to one of the girl's restrooms and ducked inside, holding her tears back until she slammed the door behind her.

"Why won't anyone believe me!" Ginny hollered as tears clouded her vision. She kicked ruthlessly at some of the water pipes below the sinks. "I'm not lying! What's wrong with everyone!"

_'A Muggle-born hater and Slytherin slut'_ Hannah's words came unbidden to Ginny's mind. Ginny slammed her fists onto the edge of the sink even though her hands bruised and pounded with pain.

"It's not me, it's not me, it's not me," Ginny repeated hoarsely. She stared into the mirror above the sink, which reflected the image of a girl that Ginny thought she knew, but whose face was distorted from crying and whose eyes were swollen with tears. Ginny wailed loudly and took a deep breath as she began to sob. She sunk down on the floor and leaned against the clammy wall as she tucked her knees to her chin.

'_This can't be real_,' Ginny thought bitterly as she wept in the deserted, slightly smelly bathroom. With blurry vision, Ginny stared down at the mold on the floor tiles beneath the sink where water dripped from a pipe.

"This is a nightmare," Ginny croaked as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. '_Colin, Hannah, Neville, and Harry . . ._' Ginny thought of all four people, which caused her bawling to resume with greeter force. '_My friends are gone_,' Ginny thought dismally as she rested her forehead against her knees. '_What happened_?' Ginny asked herself.

Suddenly, Ginny realized she knew what _did_ happen. She managed to swallow part of the concrete lump in her throat, which ended her moaning. She sniffled as she sat there and thought about how she'd stayed up with Hermione and Tonks. '_Then, we were attacked_,' Ginny realized as she strung a couple ideas together. '_Tonks, Hermione, and I were there, not just me_,' she realized as the thought of Tonks and Hermione being with her dawned in her mind like a golden sunrise after waking from a frightful dream.

'_They're here with me, wherever here is_,' Ginny told herself as she wiped her running nose on the back of her hand. '_I can find them, maybe, and maybe, we'll be okay_,' Ginny felt hope planted deep inside herself again. However, she didn't move, deciding she didn't quite have the strength to venture forth and find Hermione and Tonks, yet.

_'I don't want to see anyone else, though,_' Ginny thought dismally of Harry and Neville. '_I can't take that again,_' she realized as fresh tears brimmed in her eyes.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, and I'm trying to get this up on MNFF. In the meantime, the AU is fun. I like to write it, and sorry this took an incredibly long time. SsoV will understand why (two sciences does make me crazy, huh?). Anyway, I hope this cleared Harry up along with other characters. Also, I'm not mean enough to leave Ginny with Goyle. I am mean (as I will prove later) but not THAT mean.

Next Chapter: Black in the White Place (Something Black isn't supposed to be at Hogwarts. :) Also, Hermione puts her mind together and finds sanity.)


	7. Black in the White Place

**Chapter Seven: Black in the White Place**

From across the table, Hermione heard Malfoy's stomach growl. She peered up from over her parchment that she diligently scratched on with her quill. They'd skipped lunch since somehow because the four of them managed to become incredibly behind with homework. Hermione personally felt disgusted that she'd procrastinated.

When she'd started to work, Hermione realized that this was homework from her sixth year at Hogwarts. She understood this was the winter of her sixth year, which she definitely remembered. It was summer, and Bill and Fleur were supposed to marry, but she couldn't remember the wedding happening yet.

'_This is confusing_,' Hermione thought as she stared dumbly at the paper. '_I'm in my sixth year, but I shouldn't be, and I don't remember the wedding, and I feel like I lost a huge chunk of memory,_' Hermione thought. She rehashed the same thoughts in her mind like stale gum since she'd sat down late in the morning. However, her early panic faded like dust blown in the wind, and her new security eased the study session.

It was now early evening and the ashy gray sky became a deeper shade of graphite. Luna elbowed Malfoy in the side as his stomach rumbled again, and that snapped Hermione out of her daze. She sighed as she saw the ink from her quill had dripped in large pools on her essay.

'_I don't know a lot about Muggle theories_,' Hermione thought as she started the concluding paragraph in an essay about the healing effects of Mandrakes, which was one in a series of essays about plants with healing powers. '_But I think this might be one of those 'black hole' situations so popular in science fiction movies that my uncle used to watch_,' Hermione told herself again as she concluded her assignment. Her head throbbed, and she could hardly focus on this assignment, let alone snippets of something she'd heard years ago.

"We have to eat!" Malfoy moaned. "I don't care if I fail! I need to eat something besides chocolate and crackers."

"Yeah, I care," Zabini replied blandly from beside Hermione. He kept scratching away, and his homework stack still made everyone else's look like a tiny hill compared to the tottering mountain of books beside Zabini. '_I'm glad I know most of this,_' Hermione reflected, realizing she'd taken her time on the assignments and spent most of the day sorting out her thoughts on this world. She'd begun to think of it as 'the other world' or 'this world' since it obviously wasn't her own.

"I do, too," Luna sighed as she brushed a stray curl out of her face. She sat beside Malfoy and would occasionally look over and fix something on his parchment_. 'I wonder what happened with her_,' Hermione pondered for about the five-hundredth time that day as she unconsciously gazed at Luna's scar. Then, she adverted her eyes, hoping the others hadn't noticed.

"Well, I'll go down and get something for us to eat, then," Hermione volunteered, deciding she'd really like a look around the castle. At that precise moment, a POP sounded from beside the table. Hermione jumped, sending her stack of books sliding across the table like an avalanche.

"Young Malfoy, sir, you didn't eat at lunch, and there was worry, and," Dobby blabbered on to Malfoy as he stood there and levitated four plates heaped with food. '_Dobby is captive!'_ Hermione thought venomously. '_That little scum still keeps house elves,_' Hermione realized as she shot Malfoy a dirty glare that could have frightened a full-grown Hungarian Horntail.

"Dobby, I love you," Malfoy interrupted Dobby and snatched a plate out of mid air, conjured a spoon, and began to stuff his face unceremoniously.

"I just look out for the nice Young Malfoy," Dobby commented, and Hermione decided she didn't want to eat the food. '_Slaves, especially slaves that should be free, made this food,_' Hermione grudgingly thought and suppressed her own gnawing hunger. She stared at the plate that Dobby ordered in front of her that seemed to have the odor of dung to Hermione. The mashed potatoes and the Coc au Vin looked amazing, but Hermione dismissed her hunger stoically. '_I don't know if I can spend the holidays at the Malfoy house if they keep slaves,_' Hermione thought with utter disgust. '_Slaves, disgusting, I wonder if things really did change.'_

"Yhour nhot ehathing," Malfoy mumbled with food crammed into his mouth. A blob of potatoes threatened to slip out over his lip, but he sucked it back in before it slid onto the plate again. Hermione offered a simple shrug and stared down at the large, soulful eyes of the house elf that waited patiently on them.

"I'm not very hungry," Hermione replied stiffly, thinking of S.P.E.W. '_I need members_,' she reflected. '_I'll get people to join here, too_,' Hermione decided as she watched Dobby stare over at her.

"Lady Trelawney must eat, oh yes, Dobby prepared food for her, too. She didn't eat all day, poor Lady Trelawney," Dobby muttered. Hermione shook her head and pushed the plate away.

"Sorry, Dobby, I can't eat. I don't feel like much food," Hermione apologized to the house elf. '_I'm doing him a favor. He doesn't need to serve me_,' Hermione told herself as she watched Dobby bite his nails nervously before vanishing the plate.

"Not good for Lady Trelawney to go hungry, not good at all," Dobby muttered over and over again. Hermione went to stand up, deciding she couldn't bear the babbling of the enslaved house elf any longer. She stood slowly, aware that Luna and definitely Zabini would be analyzing her actions. She smiled slightly as she tried to casually gather her books and appear as if she didn't want to sprint out of the situation.

"This was a great study session, but I'm a little sleepy," Hermione added as she forced a friendly smile. "Off to bed, then."

Hermione spun around on her heals and hurriedly escaped up the stairs into the chilly girls' dormitories. She closed the door and muttered, "_Lumos_." The candles around the room flickered to life, and Hermione trudged over to her bed and collapsed. She tossed her books and papers haphazardly on the floor and gently picked up the invitation to the Malfoys.

'_How am I going to do this?_' Hermione wondered as she read the words over again. '_I can't spend my time at a house with slaves. I can't go, I'll snap under that pressure,_' she thought as she traced the words with her fingertip. '_Much love, Narcissa Malfoy_,' Hermione reflected wordlessly. _'How much love can she have, even in a different world, if she keeps house elves?'_

'_I wonder how much really did change_,' Hermione reflected as the soft flames from the candle played across the shimmering words like delicate fingers.

In a dank room the last starving flames of a smoldering fire gave the narrow, pale face of Tonks a lurid appearance. She appeared like a phantom as the light illuminated the purple bags already forming under her eyes. Her sallow skin, which could have appeared in the likeness of porcelain, contrasted with hair that seemed to suck the light up like a void. She gazed into the coals, her eyes fixing on things nobody could've seen. 

'_I heard you killed Avery_,' Rodolphus Lestrange's voice echoed in her mind. She saw his face imprinted in her vision as she brooded over his words.

'_She's killed others_,' Sirius's words haunted her. '_I've killed others_,' Tonks mused darkly. '_Who? How many? Why don't I remember any of this?_' she asked herself again as she watched one of the coals topple out of the fireplace and onto the damp stone floor. It turned to ash as it lost its ability to burn and lay dead beside Tonks's foot.

'_I'm going to break my mum out of Azkaban_,' Tonks told herself again as she kicked the little clump of ash with her toe. '_My mum_,' Tonks pictured the image of Andromeda Tonks, her mother, the way it imprinted itself on her mental photographs.

'_Andromeda's a fool_,' she clearly remembered the words coming out of Narcissa Malfoy's mouth the only time she'd ever been in the same room as her aunt. Granted, she'd been hiding behind the couch so Narcissa didn't know she overheard her speaking. '_She married that filthy Muggle_,' Narcissa continued talking, but Tonks really didn't understand or remember anything else she said. Those two lines etched themselves in her memory, though, because a moment like that never happened again: Narcissa Malfoy was right about something.

'_My mum is a fool. She never really chose a side_,' Tonks thought bitterly. Her mum never quite abandoned her pureblood heritage after marrying her father. Sure, she got expelled from the inheritance and the family tree, but Andromeda always thought it important to tell her daughter to 'associate with the good sort,' and she kept the family tradition of naming her children ridiculous four syllable names.

'_And my father is filthy_,' Tonks grudgingly thought of the person who'd raised her. '_They never really got along_,' Tonks thought of how her parents would always fight, mostly about her. The harsh screaming of her dad demanding his wife that his daughter learn 'a respectable trade, not mumbo-jumbo,' and her mother's equally piercing yells of how her little girl should 'become something more than a pig in a sewer' swirled through Tonks's head.

'_Why did my mum go to prison? What did her and Sirius do? Why am I involved?_' Tonks asked herself. When she thought of Sirius, it felt like a puppeteer pulled the strings to make her stomach tighten, her throat clench, and her eyes become moist with tears.

'_I can't go_,' she told herself again.

'_No, you have to go_,' the more rational side of herself argued. _'If you don't, they'll think something is wrong.'_

_'I don't care, I can't do this!'_ the part of her that just wanted to vomit all this disgusting mess out of her mind protested.

'_Yes you can, you're undercover, think of it like that_,' she argued rationally with the emotional side of her that threatened to overpower her senses that had gotten her away from the demented Sirius, Rodolphus, and the disgusting Igor.

'_I want to go back to the Burrow_,' Tonks's entire mind moaned. '_That's what I really want right now. I want to be safe and happy again. I want to toast Bill and Fleur a wonderful life together a thousand times over. I want to be with Remus.'_

She bit her lower lip as the thoughts of everyone she loved came back to her mind. In the midst of the demented surroundings, Tonks let a wane smile slide across her thin lips. Part of her became comforted as she lost herself in the golden, glistening memories of the wedding, which already seemed a decade ago.

'_I have to go_,' Tonks told herself resolutely. '_Whatever is happening, I have to know, for better or worse. I have to do a job, and I'll do it until . . . what? Until I have to kill,_' she affirmed silently.

Tonks continued to stare absently into the flames, which gave off no warmth. As the darkness of her surroundings and the doubts and guilt in her mind ebbed at her sanity, Tonks latched onto the anchor of her friends and fellow Order members. She'd always been strong, and now wasn't the time to falter.

Tomorrow, she'd go to Azkaban.

"Eek! Sorry!" 

"Uff!" Hermione muttered as a weight landed on her stomach and jarred her awake. '_What?_' Hermione wondered as she shoved blindly at the warm lump of flesh that tumbled out of her dreams and onto her bed.

"Sorry, Hermione, very sorry, I didn't mean to wake you!" The girl squeaked as she thrashed around on top of Hermione before her weight lifted. '_What a way to wake up_.' Hermione's thoughts moved as if they had to swim through thick, marshy green sludge. '_I might as well be Errol running into windows with how terrible this headache is, and now, a stomachache_,' she grudgingly thought as she slowly slid her led eyelids open.

"Mil-cent?" Hermione asked, not really believing the squat, chubby girl stood over her close enough to pant hot air in her face.

"Sorry!" Millicent squealed helplessly. "I-I tripped, and I-I guess I landed on you. Luna s-said you weren't feel-feeling w-well."

"It's . . .okay," Hermione replied hesitantly as the girl approached the point of tears. '_My, what a weird world_,' Hermione thought dully and let a smile slid over her facial features that felt like hardened clay.

"Calm down, she needs to get up anyway. It's almost breakfast time," a curt voice snapped from some where. Hermione groaned as the stiff, much louder tone hurt her ears. '_I might know that voice, too_,' Hermione realized after several slow moments where she stared blankly as Millicent's mud colored eyes, which were the size of dinner plates.

"I'm . . . moving," Hermione said as she pushed herself upright. '_I'm in another world dating Blaise Zabini, and I ate a candy bar and two crackers yesterday_,' Hermione reiterated all information that slowly surfaced like sticky bubbles of oil on the surface of her memory. '_That explains the aching_,' Hermione decided after about a minute of staring dumbly around the room as four girls got dressed.

"You definitely are ill," the girl with thick tresses of copper colored hair commented. "I couldn't believe you slept through our blabbering up until the wee hours of the morning."

"I didn't," Luna said from some where on Hermione's right. '_That's right, Luna is here. That's . ._ ." Hermione paused as she surveyed the two other girls, one with straight straw-colored hair that swished like a horse's mane, and the other copper hair girl that pulled on a thick black sweater over her head.

'_Luna_ . . . _Millicent_ . . . _Hannah_ _Abbott_,' Hermione placed the name of the blond, realizing it was Hannah that spoke to her, ' . . . _Mandy_ _Brocklehurst_,' Hermione named the last girl in the room. '_All in my year,_' she realized after several more minutes that seemed to slide like molasses in Hermione's mind.

"Hermione, let's go to breakfast. We've just today before break," Luna's voice came closer until Luna herself sat beside Hermione. Hermione slowly turned her head, which felt so swollen she thought a swarm of bees stung her all over.

"Okay," Hermione replied deftly as she gazed indifferently at Luna. '_Oh, the scar_,' Hermione's thoughts focused as she stared at the thin, pink line visible on Luna's ivory colored neck. "Yeah, I need food."

'_The scar, the slaves, oh yes, the Malfoys_.' Hermione felt the shock of seeing Luna with Harry's scar freshly for the first time today. She gazed at the invitation that lay by her bedside while Luna assisted her out of bed, and Millicent scurried over to Hermione's trunk to get her clothes and robes.

"We'll see you three," Hannah called as her and Mandy left the dorm room. '_Why does she talk so loud?_' Hermione moaned as Hannah left the room. '_I just want this pain to leave. I need to think.'_

"Here you go." Millicent laid Hermione's clothes beside her on the bed and smoothed the wrinkles out of them with several hasty strokes. She then frowned and stroked the clothes frantically several more times, as if she'd spotted another wrinkle that she'd probably inadvertently made herself.

"It's okay, Millie, you can go. Hermione and I'll get down. Just tell Draco to control his stomach for a few more minutes." Luna politely dismissed Millicent as she steadied a tipsy Hermione so she could stand up to dress.

"O-okay," Millicent replied as she backed away from Hermione's clothes, and with several nervous glances of concern back at Hermione, finally left the room. The soft sound of the creaking bed echoed through the dorm as Luna helped Hermione to her feet. '_I'm glad she'd holding me_,' Hermione numbly thought as she concentrated on pulling off her clothes that she wore yesterday and slept in last night. Luna held one of Hermione's shoulders steady at all times, and Hermione allowed Luna's soothing, steady presence to be her only true anchor on reality.

"Good?" Luna asked Hermione after she finished dressing. Hermione nodded slowly and let Luna keep one arm around her shoulder; she gripped one of her arms to guide her to the door.

"I . . . just feel miserable," Hermione concluded out loud.

"Blaise is upset, but I told him it's just your time of month," Luna chuckled. Hermione felt her dry lips form what felt like a smile, but only looked like the twitching of her mouth to Luna.

"Oh. Good," Hermione managed to reply. Luna led her down the stairs into the common room. '_When did the light become to bright?_' Hermione wondered as she squinted in the white, burning light. She felt her legs become shaky, but Luna held her upright until the stinging of her retinas stopped when she adjusted to the brightness.

"Get sick lately?" Malfoy's sarcastic comment floated to her ears. '_Oh, I have him_,' Hermione thought hazily as she progressed from a squint to heavy lidded stare. Malfoy's tall frame swam into her foggy vision, and she felt too detached from the world to really loathe him this morning.

"Just make it through today." Blaise, who'd been standing in front of her, miraculously spoke from right beside her. '_How did he move so fast_?' Hermione asked herself as she felt a brawny arm wrap around her waist. '_Maybe they'll just carry me down to the Great Hall,_' Hermione thought hopefully.

"Got to try walking, girlie, time of month or not," Blaise whispered in her right ear. Hermione groaned as she focused all her thought on standing and walking ten steps in a straight line, but only managed to take ten steps that would've given someone the impression she'd been drinking heavy liquor.

"Whoa!" Malfoy shouted as he caught Hermione before she smacked into a chair. "You have some firewhiskey up there I should try?"

"No," Hermione muttered as she let Draco steady her by holding her left shoulder. She clutched the chair she'd almost bumbled over with her right hand, hoping it would give her the strength to get to breakfast. She looked down as her knuckles turned white because of her grip.

"I'll take an arm and you take an arm, Draco, and we'll steer you down, okay?" Zabini told Hermione as he pried her right hand free of its death grip on the chair. "Steady and slow, and I think we'll make it with Luna spotting you from behind."

"An escort," Hermione's voice came out dry and raspy, although the idea seemed vaguely humorous to her. However, the two boys helped her move out of the common room, through the portrait hole, and down the first set of stairs before she almost toppled forward. Luna became useful again and snagged Hermione's waist to pull her upright.

'_It's getting easier to move_,' Hermione realized as she made it down three sets of stairs without falling over. '_It's good they're helping me, though_,' Hermione vaguely realized for the first time that Malfoy and Zabini still kept her from tottering over like a playing card castle.

"Almost there," Zabini muttered from beside Hermione. '_He's trying to make me feel better_,' Hermione realized as Zabini patted Hermione's arm gently.

"Yeah, maybe we'll let you walk through the door yourself," Malfoy said as they reached the anterior room to the Great Hall, where a couple straggling students ambled towards the Great Hall. "If you land on your face . . . it's not my fault."

"Then we'll hold her," Zabini told Malfoy sternly. "I'd rather have people think she's ill than absolutely drunk."

"I . . . think I'll try," Hermione found her voice. '_I don't want people to baby me or think I'm acting strange,_' Hermione decided as she caught a ray of mental clarity. '_I don't need people thinking I'm actually from another world.'_

"Sure?" Malfoy asked her while they stood to the right of the enormous oak doors that hung open for the morning meal. The chattering school sounded like a swarm of bees droning on in their hive. The noise irritated Hermione and threatened to rob her of that last ounce of renewed strength.

"Yes," Hermione replied resolutely before Zabini and Malfoy let go of both of her arms, but they still remained only a few inches beside her. '_Left foot, right foot, look down, focus on your feet_,' Hermione told herself as she stared at her two low heeled, black leather shoes. _'Left foot, right foot_,' Hermione instructed herself to move forward and ignore the buzzing from the student body that broke upon her mind like a roaring wave as she entered into the Great Hall.

'_Left foot, right foot, focus on your feet_,' she cleared her mind of the novocaine that wanted to just dull the pain. '_I will not stop_,' Hermione thought as her head throbbed and pleaded for her just to collapse.

'_Walk, left foot, right foot, focus, Hermione, focus_,' she told herself as her eyes hurt from the strain of concentrating on her shoes. She felt Luna nudge her, and Hermione turned her slow, effort-filled steps in that direction. '_I don't care if they stare_,' Hermione realized as she consciously planted one foot in front of the other one. '_I will make it to the breakfast table_.' She strengthened her resolution, as she kept moving as if through a sub zero degree blizzard. Her steps appeared arduous as if she might have been on the last assent to the mountain peek.

"Mione, here's your seat," Zabini whispered in her ear. Hermione stopped moving, abruptly aware that Zabini and Malfoy still stood beside her. Hermione nodded and reached out a hand to clutch the edge of the table while still staring at her feet. She moved her head up so she could now stare at the top of the table.

"I'll help you," Zabini offered and held Hermione's upper body steady by gripping her arms firmly but not painfully. She slowly crawled over the bench and would've fallen in a crumpled mess if Zabini hadn't kept her steady.

"Thanks," Hermione replied hoarsely. '_I really am grateful_,' she thought as she stretched out her hand for the fork. Zabini slid onto the bench beside her, while Luna and Draco crossed the room to sit opposite of the two of them.

When the plates of eggs, bacon, toast, and sausages appeared, however, Hermione feebly reached out her fork and skewered a piece of bacon with it. She edged the crispy piece of meat, which gave off a salty, home cooked aroma, towards her mouth. The first several bites took all her effort to chew, but then, that little piece of fatty meat seemed to give Hermione all the strength in the world to shove three more pieces of bacon and two pieces of sausage into her mouth.

"Hungry?" Zabini chuckled from beside Hermione. She didn't bother to look up, but kept eating, realizing now how acute her hunger had been. '_Fatigue and mental shock probably facilitated the entire situation_,' Hermione decided as she put some extra salt on her scrambled eggs before slathering them with syrup, too.

"Nhot anhy hungriehr than mhe," Malfoy spoke with his mouth cramped with sausage.

"Could you not talk while you eat?" Luna chided Malfoy as she took her time to butter her toast. Hermione paused to look around at the three other people she'd found herself having to befriend in this world before she went for a second helping of eggs. '_They really aren't that bad, no matter what they are in my world_,' Hermione realized as she watched a clump of eggs slide out of Malfoy's stuffed mouth and fall onto the table. Hermione felt her lips upturn in a smile, despite her objections to keeping house elves.

Just then, a great whooshing sound announced the arrival of the owls. "The paper is coming," Zabini said as an owl swooped over the table and dropped a copy of the _Daily_ _Prophet_ in front of Zabini. '_The news paper is the same_,' Hermione realized. '_If I could read that, I'd learn a lot about this world.'_

"Let's see," Zabini snatched up the paper and opened it, and Hermione realized he'd probably tell them a lot of what it said, anyway. '_Good, real information_,' Hermione thought normally now, since her mind had been revived with food.

"Anyone we know died?" Malfoy asked casually, now with a clean mouth.

'_Ron_,' Hermione thought instantly of Ron asking the same question every time she read the morning paper. Her throat tightened like someone applied a wrench to it, and her stomach ached for a completely different reason than food. '_There's a war, like in our world_,' Hermione instinctively knew this was true. '_It's irrational_,' she thought, but her gut told her the truth.

"No," Zabini replied irritably. "Same old thing. No major attacks, though, just the Ministry bumbling around and more hysteria."

"Maybe it'll be a quiet break," Luna suggested, but she sounded less than hopeful, only wistful in her wishing. "It'd be a nice change, you know?"

"Yeah," Draco muttered as he buttered two pieces of toast and unceremoniously shoved them in his mouth.

Hermione scanned her table as Zabini read the newspaper. '_A lot of these people weren't in Gryffindor, or I just don't know them,_' Hermione realized with a start. '_Maybe some Muggles or Squibs are wizards in this world,_' she thought as she looked over the mostly new faces as the table. _'It's weird, not seeing Ron, Harry, or Ginny here,'_ Hermione felt her throat constrict again when she thought about the three of them. She bit her lip, trying to suppress her emotions, and looked away from her table and briefly scanned the room.

The staff table pulled her immediately towards it. '_No, this isn't right_,' Hermione swallowed forcefully, wondering if she'd vomit. Her palms become sweaty, and her rage mildly surprised her at the sight of Bellatrix Lestrange.

'_She did kill Sirius in our world_,' Hermione realized as she observed Bellatrix before her eyes fell on the person whom Bellatrix seemed to be having a conversation with. She knew Snape was still at the school in this world, but seeing him sitting up there made her throat burn. She bit her lower lip until the point almost hard enough to draw blood.

'_It's not fair_,' Hermione thought venomously. '_It's not fair that . . . I don't know, but it's not right that they should be teaching at Hogwarts_,' she reasoned, but then, a little voice in the back of mind whispered, _'But they could be innocent here, Hermione. Here, they could be completely innocent, like Malfoy, like you.'_

'_Oh gods_,' Hermione felt her entire thought pattern jar at the idea. Her mind stopped functioning for a second as she stared blankly at the two people who sat, ate breakfast, and talked to each other amiably about something. '_It is true_,' Hermione felt the pit of her stomach drop down and her body seemed to tingle all over for a few seconds at her revelation.

"Hermione!" Malfoy shouted her name.

"Yes?" Hermione asked and broke her entranced state. She turned promptly back towards the three others.

"You spaced out," Luna said sympathetically. '_She thinks I'm still very out of it,_' Hermione realized. '_Well, she's right there. My mental state is on a bit of a roller coaster ride.'_

"You think so?" Malfoy replied sarcastically. "You know, you might have spaced out, Hermione, because you were only staring off into thin air while I shouted your name six times."

"Anyway," Zabini rose his voice to shut Malfoy up. "Here's an interesting article, Mione. Someone broke into your vault."

"My vault?" Hermione asked, more surprised she had a vault worth braking into Gringotts to steal something out of it. "What was taken?"

"Just says they took some stuff, but here, read it," Zabini offered Hermione the paper and she gladly took it. The article appeared quite a ways into the paper and occupied about a third of the page. It read:

Trelawney Vault: Second Robbery at Gringotts in Five Years The vault of the pureblood Trelawney family, known for their tradition of passing the family inheritance from one woman to the next in the family, was reportedly robbed a day ago. Albert Granger, the husband of late wife Sybil Trelawney and manager of the Trelawney estate, performed his daily inspection of the vault to discover that an old brass broach, which is one of the oldest heirlooms, appeared to have been stolen. A Gringotts spokesman said he was 'astounded' that anyone had gotten into the vault because none of the security measures had been tripped. 

'It appears to be for show, just to prove they could rob Gringotts,' an employee at the wizarding bank commented. However, authorities are baffled that only one item was stolen, but they yet have no definite clues to who the clever burglar may be.

'It's of little coincidence,' Albert Granger told us. 'My daughter's estate is very well protected, and it'll take more than a bravado thief to deplete the Trelawney inheritance.' Mr. Granger is referring to his daughter, Hermione C. Trelawney, who follows in the unbroken line of women seers that has given the Trelawney family such renown.

"Well," Hermione muttered in shock after reading the article. '_I have pureblood in my family, imagine that,_' Hermione thought, feeling a slight swelling of pleasure at having a heritage in the wizard world.

"What do you think?" Luna asked Hermione. "Can I read it?"

"Sure," Hermione replied reluctantly and handed the paper across the table to Luna. '_I'll get a paper later_,' Hermione assured herself as she turned to Zabini. "They didn't take much."

"No, that was odd. I don't think it was a malevolent theft," Zabini commented. "You're not upset?"  
"Not a lot, I mean, it's not good, but if that's all they took, well, they didn't hurt anybody, did they?" Hermione reasoned with Zabini. He ran his index finger along the rim of his cup as he thought about something before answering Hermione.

"It's just that, the last time someone broke it, they went after the stone," Zabini whispered, so only Hermione, Malfoy, and Luna could hear. '_The sorcerer's stone_,' Hermione understood what Zabini met. '_That was almost stolen here, too, then_,' and with that revelation, Hermione leaned a little closer to the pensive Zabini.

"First time in five years," Hermione muttered under her breath, remembering the title of the article. "That's not good, huh?"

"Could just be some bloke trying to make a name for himself," Malfoy pointed out as he read the article over Luna's shoulder. "If it happens again, we'll get worried."

"Mind if I slide in?"

'_Who's that?_' Hermione processed the voice, but didn't recognize it. She turned around to see a body wearing a Ravenclaw and Prefect badge standing behind her.

"Sure," Zabini said as he moved over and let the boy, who was only slightly taller than Hermione, to slide between the two of them. '_I've never seen him before_,' Hermione realized with only a dull sense of shock now. '_Not a lot could compare to seeing Bella and Snape at the staff table together,'_ Hermione reflected as the boy turned and flashed her a bright, cheery smile that showcased his clean teeth.

"So, Mione, I read about your lose. Shame, the broach," the boy replied sarcastically as he shook his head. When he moved his head, it caused his locks of tawny hair to sway like a curtain in the breeze. '_He cuts his hair like Zabini_,' Hermione noticed as she stared at the two boys' faces while they stared at her, waiting for a response.

"Yes, I know, it looked expensive," Hermione said with an equal amount of sarcasm. There'd been a picture, which showed the old, tarnished piece that had been stolen.

"Why'd you come here? Us Gryffindors are very irritable at meal times," Zabini jokingly told the Ravenclaw boy. A grin spread over his thin, pale face, yet his features weren't gaunt and his skin kept a healthy ruddy undertone.

"Oh, I wrote a letter to my father," the boy said casually, but immediately Hermione noticed that the other three perked up. Luna and Malfoy leaned across the table slightly to hear what the boy would say. Zabini went silent and curled his lips down in a frown.

"The good Mesiour D'Éfavrion wrote me a reply this morning," the boy replied. '_I wonder who he is,_' Hermione mused. '_He's French, with a surname like D'Éfavrion_,' she concluded as she continued to size up the boy with the sparkling, gray eyes.

"What did you ask him?" Luna inquired eagerly. The boy smiled slightly and brushed a thick lock of his glossy, sand colored hair away form his face.

"Oh, I only asked him if I could come to Draco's for the holidays," the boy replied casually. However, Malfoy's eyes doubled in width, and Luna and Zabini leaned inwards as if by getting closer to the boy, they could extract the answer.

"He said?" Zabini asked anxiously.

"Yes." The boy's grin spread broadly across his face as Luna clapped her hands while Malfoy's jaw dropped to the table, his face in absolute disbelief. '_He looks like a fish,_' Hermione mused she felt her lips upturn in a warm, cheerful, yet restrained smile. '_That boy, he makes me feel better_,' she realized as she looked at the young boy enjoy every second of the astonishment and joy that erupted. '_I bet it's because I don't have my preconceptions about him.'_

"I told my mum not to waste paper to send you a letter," Malfoy replied indignantly. Luna half-heartedly slapped Malfoy's arm while giving him a brief look of disdain. However, Zabini shot Malfoy an indignant glare, which caused Malfoy to throw his arms in the air in exasperation.

"It's not like he's shown up before! What was I supposed to say? 'Hey, mum, get a bed ready for Theirry because he's coming this year, although his dad always whisks him off to the sunny coasts of Italy for Christmas," Malfoy replied defensively. '_Theirry_,' Hermione played the name over in her head as she watched the boy just chuckle at Malfoy's outburst.

"It's great that you're going," Luna spoke up. "It'll be a great holiday."

"I personally would want to be in the Alps or along whatever sunny coast your dad takes you to," Malfoy interjected.

"Well, it was the Alps, then Greece a couple years ago, but last year we went to the French Rivera," Theirry listed off a couple places as Malfoy rolled his eyes grudgingly.

"I get it, I get it, your dad's insanely rich. Why you want to come up here, I have _no_ idea," Malfoy replied tediously.

"Why did he let you come?" Zabini asked more seriously. Theirry focused his attention on Zabini while Hermione scraped her brain to figure out if she needed to say anything to this boy she should've known.

"He's busy with government business, you know, with the war and everything," Theirry's voice lost its bantering, cheerful tone for a more solemn, conversation sound. "He said he couldn't spend time with me this year, anyway. By the way, he wishes you a Happy Christmas, too."

"So, everything's going okay, I mean, as good as it's going here?" Zabini lowered his voice slightly as he asked Theirry. Theirry shrugged and nodded, which Hermione interpreted as an equilibrium of disaster was every where.

"It's insane across the channel, too," Theirry soberly told the group of Gryffindor sixth years. Luna frowned and looked down at her hands, and Hermione found her eyes transfixed once again the faint zigzag scar. '_I need to know_,' Hermione longingly thought of the story behind Luna's scar.

"So, how about meeting my parents," Malfoy spoke up and broke the awkward silence. "My mum will love you, of course, like she loves everyone of my friends. And, of course, my dad will like you more than me."

"Oh, can't wait," Theirry replied hesitantly to Malfoy's self-deflating statement. _'This holiday feels even worse the closer I get_,' Hermione moaned mentally at the thought of seeing Lucius Malfoy, too. '_The last time I saw Lucius Malfoy was in the Department of Mysteries, and that was enough for me, thank you,_' she thought as she surveyed Draco sitting across the table from her.

"It'll be great," Luna assured Theirry as she smiled reassuringly at him from across the table. "It's a lot of talking, eating, sleeping, and sitting around."

"A good holiday," Theirry replied with an affirmative nod. "So, Hermione, what has my brother promised you for Christmas? I think he'll cheat you if it's only a kiss under the mistletoe."

"Oh, um, nothing I can think of," Hermione bumbled through her response. She tried to appear like someone hadn't confounded her several times in a couple seconds. '_His brother_,' Hermione realized as she surveyed both boys over again. '_No, they can't be blood brothers_,' she concluded as she looked between their light cream and mocha complexions. The style of their hair appeared similar, but Zabini had tanned Arabian features while Theiry was clearly of European descent.

"What are you implying?" Zabini's tone was brittle as he asked a smirking Theirry. '_Yes, they look like brothers, but physically, I don't see any resemblance besides their haircuts_,' Hermione pondered as she scrutinized their interactions with each other.

"That this year you should maybe step up your game. Try one pathetic mistletoe, just go for some eggnog, then hit the broom closet," Theirry suggested as he failed to keep a serious face as he met Zabini's shocked face.

"Sure, cheep, steamy make out sessions, if that's fine with you, Mione!" Zabini shouted over at Hermione. She just raised her eyes and smiled incredulously at the two boys. '_They act a bit like Fred and George_,' Hermione decided as Malfoy unsuccessfully hid his giggling fit behind his hands.

"I'll pass," Hermione said as she met the sparkling, cheerful gaze of Theirry. '_He's a nice boy_,' Hermione decided as she looked up and found herself also meeting Zabini's eyes. '_And here, he's a nice boy, too_,' she realized as she looked into the depths of the gentle brown amber eyes.


End file.
